Ice Cold
by Fandomgirl1012
Summary: Fairy Tail has a member that hasn't been shown before. An Ice dragon Slayer. Her name is Aquila. This is the true Fairy Tail. DISCLAIMER: I do not own fairy tail, I only own Aquila. Beta'd by Solarking
1. Chapter 1

Lucy was laughing at Natsu and Gray as they yelled at each other, when Loke burst into the guild hall. "I've got bad news!" He yelled, everyone turning towards him, "It's Erza and Aquila! Their on their way here!" The hall descended into panic.

"Wow, just mention Erza and everyone panics."

Mirajane smiled at Lucy and said sweetly, "Well they are the strongest female wizards in the guild, and more than a bit intimidating."

Shadow descended into the guild hall. Everyone began to examine their conduct and some began to fear for their lives. The clink of armor mixed with thundering steps as the two approached. "It's got to be her…" Laki whispered.

"Those sound like her footsteps." Wakaba added.

"Even the air has gone completely still", said Macao. Murmuring ensued across the hall. Lucy gulped and thought to herself, _Geez, from these reactions you would think they were demons or something…_ Lucy trembled with fear though she was unsure why. A tall redheaded girl walked into the hall carrying a giant horn. She slammed the horn down with a crash. A blue haired girl with hair in a long braid walked out from behind her.

"Hey guys!" She called out cheerfully, "We're back!"

Erza said," We have returned. Where is Master Makarov?"

Lucy murmured," Wow, they're so pretty."

Mirajane called out, "Welcome back Aquila, Erza. The Master is at a conference."

Erza nodded. "I see" she replied introspectively.

"So what's with the horn guys?" Max asked quietly from the side. "It's the horn of the monster we defeated. The locals were grateful so they decorated it and gave it to us as a gift."

Aquila grinned, "Wasn't necessary, 2 S-class wizards was honestly way too much firepower for this mission. A little ice, a slash of a sword, and no more monster!" Her teeth showed pointy incisors, similar to Natsu's.

"Now listen up!" Erza called out. "While we were on the road, I heard some rumors. Word is that Fairy Tail is causing nothing but trouble as of late. Master may not care, but I most certainly do!" Erza finished and everyone straightened up.

"Erza's right. I heard some nasty things on the road. Shape. Up." In an instant, Aquila's demeanor changed. A chill filled the room, quite literally.

"W-Why is it s-so cold?" Lucy asked.

Mirajane, who appeared to be unaffected, smiled again. "Aquila is an Ice Dragon slayer, her mood when black, often lowers the temperature."

"Whoa." Lucy whispered.

"Cana, you need to start controlling your drinking. Vijeeter, please take the dancing outside. Wakaba, get rid of that filthy habit! Nab, I suspected I would find you dawdling in front of the request board, just pick a job! Macao… huh." Erza sighed.

Macao began to panic, "Please just say something!"

Erza sighed once, "I don't even know where to begin with you. You cause so much trouble, I've almost given up on you!"

"Wow she's really tearing into everyone. It's like she's taking over."

Happy piped up, "That's Erza for you!"

Lucy continued, "Even if she is bossy, she's still saner than everyone else in here. I don't understand why everyone's so afraid of her. Her, on the other hand, I understand." Lucy gestured to where Aquila leaned against a pillar, which was almost completely covered in ice. The other guild members began to edge away, and few unfortunate souls had become frozen to their seats.

Erza turned to look as she stated, "Are Natsu and Gray here?" Everyone's attention shifted to Natsu and Gray, who were surprisingly hugging while shaking hands.

"Hey Erza, Just hanging out like good friends do." Gray said.

"Aye" agreed Natsu. Aquila smile and shifted upright and began walking over to Natsu and Gray.

"Hello Ice princess, flames for brains, how's that budding friendship coming?" Aquila grinned at them and Lucy began to realize that it was better to be far more scared of her than of Erza.

"Better than ever! We're best friends, right buddy?!" Gray practically yelled in panic.

"Aye mam!" Natsu agreed. Aquila smiled and walked over to the bar and gracefully took a seat.

"Great, I'm pleased to see the two of you getting along. However," Erza paused and Lucy decided to be equally scared of both. "Even the best of friends can lock horns sometimes, it's only natural."

"Come on Erza, Aquila we're the best of friends." Gray stammered out.

"Aye." Natsu agreed.

"What's gotten into Natsu?" Lucy cried out.

"He's scared. He challenged Erza to a fight a few years ago and she beat him pretty bad. And a few years before that Aquila challenged him to fight and he was beaten even worse then.", Mirajane explained, with that sweet smile still present.

Lucy proclaimed, "That was a stupid thing to do."

"After their fight, Erza found Gray walking around naked and decided to beat him up too. Gray isn't scared of Aquila though, since they both have different varieties of ice magic, he thinks he could take her in a fight." Macao said.

"And let's not forget, Erza beat Loke up for flirting with her and Aquila froze him into a block of ice that she refused to unfreeze for a week after he caught her under some mistletoe." Cana added.

Erza continued talking, "Natsu, Gray I have a task for you. I heard something on the road that has me worried. Normally I would talk to the master but this matter is of utmost urgency. The two of you are the strongest wizards here. Aquila and I could really use your help." Whispers filled the guild hall. "We'll meet at the train station in the morning." Erza finished.

Mirajane whispered," Erza, Aquila, Natsu, and Gray working together. I never saw that one coming. This could be, the most powerful team Fairy Tail has ever seen!"

Aquila's POV

The next morning we met at the train station. Erza walked in and announced, "Sorry we're late, have you been waiting long?" I rode atop the mountain of baggage that was Erza's suitcases.

"Not really." The blonde girl said then performed a double take. I smirked. Erza always packed heavy. Natsu and Gray began to act overly friendly with one another and smirked again. Idiots, they had to get along, not be best friends. I slid down and landed beside Erza.

"I really love to see the two of you getting along." Erza said and I scoffed. I sidled over to the blonde girl and smile at her.

"So what's your name and magic?" I asked curiously. I didn't get a chance to talk to her at the guild, but she was new and I didn't know her.

"Oh, my name is Lucy. I'm a Celestial Wizard."

I smiled, "Very nice. And you get a natural Loke repellant. I wish I could be so lucky!" I sighed. Lucy giggled and I grinned at her. This new girl wasn't half bad.

Erza turned her attention towards us and smiled, "What's your name? I remember seeing you at the guild yesterday." I looped my arm through Lucy's and smiled at her.

"This is Lucy, she's a celestial mage." I spoke for her.

"I just joined the guild. Mira asked me to come along so I could learn a thing or two. I hope that's okay with both of you?" She asked.

"Of course girlie, the more the merrier!" I added enthusiastically. Erza smile and nodded, then frowned.

"Wait you're the girl I heard about, the one who defeated that mercenary gorilla with only her pinky finger." Lucy jolted as if she'd been shocked. I took my arm from around hers and turned to face her.

"Really?! You're that Lucy!? Cool!"

Erza continued, "It would be great having a wizard like you on board. We'll be grateful for your help." "Oh no, it's my pleasure." Lucy stammered out. I grinned at her reaction and at the quarreling boys in the background who would argue then behave when Erza turned around. I wasn't in the mood to call attention to them, merely to sit back and watch the show.

"Hey Erza!" Natsu called out. She turned and Natsu continued, "I'll come with you but on one condition."

"Oh?" Erza quirked an eyebrow at Natsu.

"I want a rematch when we get back to the guild, and then one with you Popsicle!" He called out. I grinned and the temperature lowered about ten degrees.

"Oh you're sure Natsu? Last time I challenged you, weren't you too, Afraid, to accept?" I grinned and Lucy backed up about 3 steps.

"You want to go now blueberry?" He called out and I dropped my arms as ice began to erupt on my skin.

"Whenever you're ready Pinkie!" I called out.

"Aquila, Enough! Very well Natsu, I can tell you've improved. I accept your challenge." Erza said with a smile.

"Let see if you can beat me when we get back flame brain." I grinned again and let my ice dissolve into the air and felt the temperature rise.

"Oh yeah! I'm fired up!" Natsu roared. Then the final call for boarding was given and we loaded onto the train.

 _3 hours later_

Natsu was practically passed out on the bench. I wasn't much better. I hated trains and all forms of transportation, with a passion! I should've walked!

"I swear you're totally pathetic Natsu, one second you're picking a fight, the next you're like this." I looked over at Gray and glared at him.

"If he's pathetic then so am I. Are you calling me pathetic Gray? Because I still have enough strength to hang you out the window!" I snarled then doubled over with a moan. Erza patted my back, which I appreciated but it did nothing to settle my stomach.

"Now come here and sit with me Natsu." Erza commanded and I managed a nasty grin. I knew what was coming. I got up and moved with Lucy, sitting in between her and Gray. Erza then knocked Natsu out with a punch. Lucy looked horrified while Gray smirked.

"Erza maybe you should fill us in. What kind of mission are we going on here exactly?" Gray asked.

"Of course, I have reason to believe the Dark Guild Eisenwald is planning something big..." Erza's voice trailed off as I did my best to fall asleep. I was with her when we overheard these wizards talking. They mentioned Lullaby and a seal. They also mentioned Eregor, a man who only accepted assassination requests. We wanted to stop them hence asking the boys for help. I heard Lucy ask what type of magic Erza uses. I forced myself up for this display. Happy chimed in that Erza uses pretty magic and replied she thought that Gray's and I's magic was much prettier. I smiled as Gray used his magic to create an Ice sculpture of the Fairy Tail symbol.

"I use ice magic." Gray said quietly and I reached out and grabbed the statue, taking a bite out of it.

"Thanks for the snack Gray." I smiled at him as I began to munch. He glared at me and I giggled. I turned to Lucy and said slowly, trying to not throw up my ice, "I'm the Ice Dragon Slayer. Self-explanatory, yes?"

Lucy nodded then commented, "It makes sense that you two get along with each other but not Natsu, ice and fire?"

Erza hummed, "I never thought of it like that."

"Nah, I just hate his guts." Gray commented. I was too busy trying not to upchuck all over Erza, so I didn't reply. The train however began to slow and my stomach flopped. We all exited the train, Gray lending me a hand so I could walk out.

"You think the dark wizards might still be in Onibas?" Gray asked Erza as we walked through the station. I could finally stand up straight and I moved away from Gray, letting his arm drop.

"I don't know, but it's a good starting point." Erza replied.

"I'm still thinking I should go home now." Lucy whimpered.

"Aw don't worry Lucy, I won't let anything get you!" I said slinging an arm around her shoulders.

"Hang on where's Natsu?" Happy chimed in. Erza's eyes widened and we shared a stricken look.

"I was so busy talking, I forgot about him" Erza said.

"Oh well." I said with shrug. The train would come back later, we could get him then.

"This is all my fault. Natsu hates all forms of transportation! I need one of you to come and hit me for my penance." I shook my head at Erza's dramatics.

"Not necessary Erza." Lucy looked like she was going to pass out.

Erza marched over to the emergency lever and proceeded to pull it. One of the security officers attempted to argue with her over it but she wouldn't be swayed. I was laughing at the guy that thought he could stop her.

"I'm starting to realize that all the wizards in fairy tail are just a little bit insane."

I stopped laughing for a minute to stare at her, "Only just figuring out Lucy? I knew that within two minutes of stepping in. Suits us just fine."

"We're not all insane." Gray stated.

"Where are your clothes?" Lucy shrieked.

I looked Gray over in mock concentration then deliberately lay back with a bored look on my face. "Only a six, Gray I'm disappointed, with all the stripping you do, couldn't you at least give us a decent eight?"

"Quit it Ice Princess!" I made a face at Gray, "Ice Princess? Better than being a stripper." Erza walked over and I assumed an innocent expression.

"Erza I believe Gray is trying to pick a fight with me." Erza stopped and gave me a deliberate stare, "Do you deserve it, I wonder?" I giggled and spread my hands, "Guilty as charged."

Erza sighed. "Come now, we must rent a magic vehicle and catch up with Natsu." I sighed and stood, following Erza out the door. She rented a magic vehicle and I refused to get on it.

"No way, no more motion sickness." I turned to Gray and said, "Make me a sled please." He frowned at me, but did as I requested. I tied a rope from the back of the vehicle to my sled.

"I'll be fine on this thing."

Gray looked at me and asked, "Isn't the sled a vehicle?" I smirked at him.

"Not in my line of thinking." I stood on the back of the sled and made a pillar of ice on it. "I'm good now, let's get going." Erza nodded and strapped herself to the magic vehicle. She started driving like a madman. I pitied Gray, He was stuck on the roof.

"Care to join me on the sled?" I shouted up to him.

"No thanks! It looks worse than this."

I laughed, "Not really."

We finally caught up with Natsu, who came out of a window and smacked into Gray. Erza skidded to a stop.

"Natsu, are you alright?" Erza asked.

A croaked "Aye" came from his mouth. As they recovered their senses, Natsu and Gray began to argue.

"I'm thankful that you weren't badly injured. I apologize." said Erza, who grabbed Natsu and pulled him into a side-armed hug. I doubled over in silent laughter. Gray smirked too. Natsu started his story.

"I'm shaken up though. I got attacked by some weirdo on the train. Said he was with Eisenwald."

Erza's eyes narrowed and she slapped Natsu, hard. I winced at the impact. "That is exactly who we are chasing after, why did you let him get away?" Natsu protested claiming he didn't know that was what the mission was. "Fool! I explained everything on the train, pay attention when people are talking to you!"

I tapped Erza on the shoulder and whispered to her, "Erza, you knocked him out on the train remember, because he was whining about his motion sickness?" She blanched and began to insist Natsu hit her as punishment. I glared at him (He looked too excited about hitting her) then told her she was fine, just needed to apologize to him. I laughed when that resulted in her giving him another bone crushing hug.

We loaded back up, Natsu reluctantly sharing my sled. "So, he was on the same train as us then? Let's find him!" Erza declared. Gray asked Natsu what the guy looked like. He said he looked ordinary then began describing a flute topped with a three-eyed skull.

"Major creeps." I added into the conversation.

"What's wrong Lucy?" Happy asked her, she looked majorly creeped out.

"It's just, I've heard of that flute before. Lullaby…The Cursed Song! It's death magic." I blanched.

"What?" Erza said, stunned.

"Like an incantation?" Gray queried.

"I've only read about them, but there are some deadly spells out their forbidden to be used by wizards." Lucy answered.

"That's right, there are cursed black magic spells that will kill the person they're used on." Erza spoke up.

"If I'm right, Lullaby is even worse." Lucy began to explain how it was demon flute. Erza paled and then practically threw Lucy into the carriage, and us with her. "Gray get on." She plugged herself into the vehicle and if I thought her driving was bad before, it was even worse this time.

"Slow down Erza! You're using up too much of your magical power!" Gray yelled at her.

Erza yelled back, "I have no choice! We're running out of time! If Eregor gets his hands on this death magic, trust me, lives will be lost." Natsu and I sat in the car and he was holding his stomach while I had lost it and was vomiting out the window.


	2. Chapter 2

Erza slowed the car to a stop and I was so glad. I was practically hanging out the window and Natsu looked like he was about ready to join me.

"I can understand cars or boats, but why a train?" I heard Lucy say. I crawled over to where she was looking out over the Kunugi Station.

"It doesn't make a very good get away since it can only follow the tracks it's on." Happy added.

"Yes, but they are quite fast." Erza remarked.

I only moaned and Natsu had proceeded to begin throwing up where I had been earlier. _I wished I'd brought Stella, but she's so little, I didn't want her to risk getting hurt,_ I thought to myself. Stella was my cat, she flew just like Happy. However she was only about 8 years old (In human years) so I didn't want to risk her getting hurt on a mission so I left her in Magnolia. Boy, was I regretting that decision!

"I guess it's up to us to figure out what those Eisenwald jerks want with it and why." Gray stated.

"Gray you're naked!" Lucy shrieked once again. I turned to give him a ferocious glare although my motion sickness dispelled the image somewhat.

"Clothes. Now." I ordered him before turning to vomit outside the window again.

"Honestly, you two are a disgrace. The car isn't even moving!" Gray yelled at Natsu and I. I would've frozen him solid for a week if I hadn't felt so awful!

Lucy remarked that the military had been called in and Erza started moving the car again. I wasn't properly seated so I got thrown back. She began driving again. I heard Gray and Erza yelling at each other about speed and the use of magical power.

As we roared into town, Natsu began to hang himself out of the window, almost falling out. Lucy began to yell at him while Happy was mumbling to himself.

"That's it! I h-have had enough!" I yelled, struggling to stand and not lose my lunch. I kicked out the door while Lucy shrieked some more.

"Erza I'll meet you all at the station!" I yelled up to the front.

"What are you doing?! You're going to kill someone!" Gray yelled at me. I managed a sickly grin and looked up and him.

"Watch and Learn, stripper!" I summoned my magic and began to create a frozen path of ice. I jumped from the car and the momentum kept me moving. I had to continue conjuring the path as we went along, but I could keep up with Erza's car no problem. This was my preferred method of travel.

Erza slammed on the breaks as she skidded to a stop in front of Oshibana Station. Everyone practically fell out of the car and with a flick of my hand, my ice melted. We ran up to the station, Erza in the lead.

"Excuse me sir, what's going?!" She said to the train official with authority in her voice. With the smartass remark he gave, he was lucky the only thing she did was knock him out. As she began to start the same process on another official, Lucy lamented Erza's interrogation methods. The results produced however, she could not deny. "The Eisenwald guild is inside. Let's go!"

 _ **And then…**_

We raced into the station, as we ran, Erza divulged what she had learned, "The army sent a small unit in a few hours ago. They have yet to return. I'm guessing they've been caught in battle with the Eisenwald forces."

We came upon a hallway filled with downed soldiers. They were slumped everywhere and many were dead.

"They've been completely wipe out." Happy whispered. "They were up against an entire guild of wizards. A small contingent like this would never stand a chance against such a powerful group." Erza stated. I leaned over to check a few that seemed alive but that was for naught. Eisenwald had wiped every last one of them out. I growled and clenched my fists as we heard a dark chuckle.

"Welcome! Step into our parlor, Fairy Tail flies!" a man with white hair and strange tattoos mocked us as Eisenwald's forces laughed.

"Woah, there's a lot of them." Lucy whimpered.

"You fiend. I take it you're Erigor?" Erza demanded of the figure with large scythe.

The figure only laughed, that was enough answer. Lucy was frantically attempting to revive Natsu, who had yet to recover from his motion sickness. One of the guild members yelled at Natsu, which seemed to rouse him. As Natsu seemed to revive, I snorted. Typical, he wakes up so he can fight.

"You think we're scared?!" I yelled at the Eisenwald forces, "Try swatting these fairies and you may just find yourselves having a frosty welcome!" My anger began to show and the temperature began to drop in the room.

"Tell us what you're planning to do with lullaby!" Erza demanded of Erigor.

"Oh, you haven't heard yet?" Eregor laughed and flew into the air. "What do all train stations have?"

"He flew!?" Lucy exclaimed.

"He's using wind magic." Happy said quietly.

"You're planning to broadcast lullaby's song?!" Erza yelled at Erigor. He laughed again, a menacing sound.

"Thousands of nosy onlookers have flocked to the scene, who knows? Maybe if I raise the volume loud enough I could extinguish the entire town with my melody of death!" Erigor cackled.

" You've got to do one thing first asshole, you have to go through us!" I yelled at the arrogant mage. Erigor sneered at me.

"This is a cleansing of those who don't appreciate their rights or notice the plight of those who have had theirs taken away. They have committed the sin of turning a blind eye to the world's injustice. Therefore, the reaper has come to punish them!" Erigor continued with his mad speech.

"But killing them isn't going to help you get your rights back. It's only going to make it worse! That's the whole reason you were kicked out of the wizard league in the first place!" Lucy yelled at Erigor.

"Lucy." I said firmly and placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. "They're lunatics and madmen. Your logic falls upon deaf ears, but it's a true argument nonetheless."

"We've given up trying to regain our rights! We want power then we will be able to wash away the sins of the past and take control of what happens in the future!" Erigor yelled.

"You guys are all insane!" Lucy yelled.

"We're ushering in a new age of darkness. Too bad you flies won't be there to see it!" One of the wizards yelled before his face glowed with magic. Shadows raced towards us and came alive into the air, arcing towards Lucy in a smashing motion.

I react without thinking, I dash in front of Lucy in an attempt to shield her, as I realize Natsu is standing and has destroyed the shadows with one blow.

"You again?!" the wizard yells at Natsu. That must be the one he fought on the train.

"Yo Eisenwald dude, I thought I recognized that voice. " Natsu yells back at the shadow wizard.

"Natsu, you're back to normal!" Lucy yells with joy.

"About time. Should've just ridden the ice with me flame-brain." I smile at Natsu though,

"Aw, those stupid slides are no better than some car!" He yells back at me. I smirk and turn my attention back to the Eisenwald wizards, letting him have the last word, for now.

"Looks like we've got ourselves a party." Natsu grins.

"No, Natsu these are the guys we have to fight!" Lucy yells at him.

"I know, like I said it's a party." Natsu smiles and cracks his knuckles together. I grin and nod in agreement.

"This is the strongest team Fairy Tail has to offer, you better be ready!" Lucy yells, and throws an accusing finger at the wizards.

"I leave them to you, show them the terror of the dark guild Eisenwald!" Erigor yells to his minions, then vanishes like a puff of smoke. _All right, let's go!_ I think to myself and prepare to face the wizards head on. No point worrying about him unless he's here to get his own beating.

"Natsu and Gray, go. I need you to stop him. If the two of you work together, not even Erigor the reaper can beat you! I'm leaving him in your hands." Erza commands the boys. They begin to glare at one another as Erza turns around.

"What did I say?!" She yells ferociously and they change into two Happys.

"Aye!" They yelp in unison then rush off together. Two of the Eisenwald wizards split off to follow them, but even those two can take these weaklings.

"We'll catch up with them once we finish off the rest of them, okay?" Erza tells Lucy and I.

"Three girls against an entire magical guild!?" Lucy whimpers.

"Them, oh please, don't sweat the small fry Lucy." I let my ice come forth and the temperature drops into subzero. The guild cackles and prepares to attack. Lucy lapses into a daydream, but Erza and I are ready.

"Let's do this!" Erza yells as she begins to requip.

"All right, let's put these punks on ice!" I cheer. I inhale and yell out, "Ice dragon Roar!" The enemies are coated in ice, but more swarm up. I lose track of Erza and Lucy in the melee as I continue to fight on through.

"Ice dragon's blades of ice!' I yell and leap into the air, sending wicked shards of ice into the crowd below. I pause in my attacks when I see Erza requip into her famous armor, The Knight.

"Now, dance my swords!" She cries out as her blades begin to revolve around her and are sent flying into the crowd taking down most of the guild in a single blow.

"I knew it!" One of the guild wizards calls out.

One of the two remaining leapt at Erza, but was stopped solid in his tracks, literally, as I attacked. "Frozen kiss!" I called out and blew one in his direction. In an instant he was frozen into a block of ice.

"She's Queen of the Fairies, Titania Erza! Which means, the blue haired one must be Glacial Aquila!" the same guild member yells.

In spite of myself I grin, "Wow, Glacial Aquila, haven't heard that in a while, aye Titania?" I call out to Erza as she requips into her normal armor. The final wizard standing proceeds to run for the hills.

"I would imagine he's going to look for Erigor, you should follow him." Erza instructs Lucy.

"Wha- me?!" Lucy yelps.

"Just do it!" Erza yells and Lucy bleats out a "Yes ma'am." before running for the same proverbial hills.

I rush forward as Lucy leaves and Erza sags forward. I catch her and support her so she can still stand.

"Gray was right, I overdid it on the magic mobile." She murmurs.

I snort, "Damn straight you did, but you had to otherwise we wouldn't have made it, but that doesn't matter right now. We need to warn the bystanders." Erza nods wearily and pulls herself upright without my help. I frown but say nothing. She's too stubborn to stay here and rest for a moment, even if she needs it.

We make our way outside where Erza commandeers a bullhorn form one of the train security men. "If you value your lives then you will leave this place at once. This station has been taken over by evil wizards. They are threatening to broadcast a deadly spell over the loudspeakers that would kill everyone here. I beg you run as far as you can!" with that declaration from Erza the crowd begins to stampede far away from the station.

"Now that I've cleared everyone away from the train station, I wonder what Erigor's next move will be?" Erza wonders.

"Nothing good." I declare. We turn and our mouths drop as a wall of wind surrounds the station.

"It's some kind of wind barrier!" Erza declares and I quirk half a smile.

I can't resist, "No, I thought it was ice or fire." My remark is met with a smack from Erza. A dark chuckle is issued form behind us.

"I've always the opportunity to fight the Queen of the Fairies or the legendary Icy Damsel, but unfortunately, I don't have time to play with you right now." Erigor remarks and flicks his hand.

Before Erza or I have time to react we a flung back through the wind wall.

"Erigor!" Erza cries out and attempts to break through the wall but is flung back.

"It's useless. There's no way you will ever be able to break through my magic sealing wind barrier. You see, it's one way only, if you try to escape the wind will tear you apart." He lectures mockingly form the other side of the wall.

"Erigor come fight us fair you two faced bastard!" I scream at him, but I'm soundly ignored.

"We've wasted enough of our time on you Fairy Tail flies. Now if you'll excuse me." Erigor finishes his cold statement then rises out of our view.

"Curse you Erigor, I will stop you. He wasn't targeting this station after all. What is he planning?" Erza curses.

"I don't know what he's up to, but let me talk to one of his thugs. I'm sure I can coax the true plan out of them." I state with ice in my tone.

"That may be our only option." Erza nods as the wind wall swirls in front of us as our quarry moves further and further away.


	3. Chapter 3

"Just forget about it lady. I told ya, there's no undoing Erigor's barrier. You and your buddies are stuck." The man I had unfrozen rasped.

"Are you sure about that?", I whispered quietly as I placed my hand on the floor and let ice creep up onto him.

"Hhnh!" He gasped at my ice's subzero temperature, the temperature matching my desire to play games with this moron.

"Erza! Aquila!" Gray cried out, I turned to see him standing on one of the balconies.

"What are you doing here!? I thought you were with Natsu!" Erza thundered out.

"We decided to split up. Never mind that now!" Gray yelled hurriedly. Hm, smooth he skated over the fact that he and Natsu disobeyed Erza's direct orders. Who would've thought they had the guts? "Listen, I just found out Eisenwald's real target is Clover, The next town up!"

Erza paled, "What?!"

"Erza, the guild masters! The meeting is in Clover!" I spoke with urgency.

"Erigor's headed towards the conference as we speak! He's planning to use the lullaby to kill the guild masters!" Gray yelled out. Erza began to radiate with fury. I retracted my ice and scooted a few feet away. I almost felt bad for the poor Eisenwald schmuck.

"Why didn't you TELL ME?!" Erza roared at the wizard. He quivered with fear as I loomed behind her. With a disgusted look she dumped him onto the floor.

"Night, night. Hope the cold doesn't keep you up!" I smiled sweetly at the wizard before encasing him in ice.

"There's a problem. The station is surrounded by a wind barrier." Erza began.

"Yeah, I know. I saw it earlier. If you try to break through that thing, it'll make mincemeat out of you." Gray interjected.

"I've already tried that." Erza admitted, while clutching her wounded arm.

"I tried to freeze a portion of it too but no such luck." I added coming to stand next to Erza.

"Is your arm okay?!" Gray asked with concern.

"That's not important. What is, is getting out of here. We must stop Erigor before he reaches the guild masters conference." Erza stated.

"Wait a minute, Erza back at the pub. Wasn't there a wizard named Kage who broke Lullaby's seal on his own?! If he could do that, then he could break the wind barrier!" I said.

"We must find him!" Erza commanded.

"A dispeller huh? That could take it down!" Gray said thoughtfully.

"Let's go find him!" I said and took off down the hall Erza and Gray following me.

As we ran, a series of explosions wracked the eastern side of the station. "I believe we just received the direction to go to find Natsu and Kage." I said with a wry smile.

Gray rolled his eyes and Erza managed a small smile. We ran up a staircase to find Natsu standing before a slightly charred Kage.

"Do not harm him!" Erza called out to Natsu.

"Huh?" Natsu turned to see us running towards them.

"Good job flame brain!" I spoke with genuine delight. He took him down with relatively little damage, for us that is. Erza leaped at them with a sword as Natsu dropped to the ground pleading for mercy.

"Idiot, it's not you she's after!" I ran up and flicked him on the forehead.

Erza leapt at Kage and her sword bit into the brick, coming to a stop inches from his neck.

"You will dispel the wind barrier and you will do so without complaint, do you understand?" Erza spoke in a deadly serious tone.

"Just do it man! That chick's a real monster!" Natsu whined at Kage.

"Shut up Natsu!" Gray yelled back at him. I drew closer to both of them and slung an arm around each of their necks.

"Now gentlemen, what do we do when Erza's threatening someone? We. Stay. Quiet." I whispered the last few words and took a small amount of delight in their paled faces.

"Understand?!" Erza threatened again.

"Fine, I'll dispel it!" Kage stammered out.

Suddenly, Kage lurched forward with a pained groan. A pool of red began to spread from his chest as a hand emerged from it. He slumped forward in agony.

"Why? Karaka…" Kage moaned as he collapsed and the fat wizard Lucy had run after earlier was shown half-in and half-out of the wall. He was trembling as Erza rushed to Kage's side.

"No he was our only way out of here!" Gray cursed. Natsu was wide eyed and trembling.

"Kage, don't you dare die on us! We need your help, do you hear me?" Erza demanded of the fallen wizard. I dropped to his side.

"Erza, move. It won't be the best but it could keep him alive." I gently pushed my best friend aside. I placed my hands on the wizard's chest and forced ice to creep out of them. It creeped over his chest and covered his torso.

"More, more." I muttered to myself. I had to make it thick enough to withstand movement. Finally I finished and collapsed back, where Gray caught me. "It should be enough, to keep him, huh huh, alive." I panted. That always took a lot out of me. I had to perfectly control my ice's temperature so that he wouldn't get frostbite or hypothermia from it. It took a lot of finesse and control.

"Gray, can I have some ice?" I muttered.

"Sure thing. " Gray lowered me to ground and made me some blocks to eat. I began to pop the ice cubes into my mouth like candy.

The fat wizard, Karaka, I believe his name was, stood trembling before all of us. Natsu suddenly lit up in flames.

"He's a member of your guild! He trusted you and you tried to kill him!" He roared and leapt at Karaka who tried to disappear back into the walls, but Natsu broke through. He knocked him out with a single punch. We left him where he was and Erza grabbed Kage and slung him over her shoulders, whereas Gray helped me to stand.

I glared at the arm he had under my shoulders and shook him off. I lurched for a moment and was fine.

"If you want to help, make me a ton of ice!" I ordered Gray who rolled his eyes at me and then proceeded to start crafting ice for me to eat.

"Thank you." I whispered quietly as we descended the stairs. He nodded and we turned our attention to the next problem.

We had made it back down to the main hall where we found Lucy and we enlightened her as to the situation.

"No way, he want to kill all the guild masters!?" Lucy cried out after we finished our explanation.

"We have to stop him!" Natsu roared.

"That's easier said than done. Erigor cut off our only means of reaching Clover and he's headed there by air!" Erza explained.

"I'm pretty sure we could catch up to him on the magic mobile. But, we can't do anything until we figure out how to get on the other side of this barrier!" Gray reasoned.

Natsu, moron that he is, attempted to punch through the barrier. The recoil sent him flying back into a heap.

"See that's what happens if you try to bust through." Gray gestured to Natsu as an example.

"Kage, wake up! You're our only hope right now." Erza pleaded with the unconscious Kage as Natsu made another go at the wall sending him flying backwards.

"Cut it out, you idiot, brute force won't do you any good." Gray reprimanded Natsu.

"What options do we have? Kage's down, lucky to be alive, armor can't break through this, not ice, nor fire…" I puzzled against a column. What was I missing, what abilities do we have that I was overlooking?

Lucy tried to persuade Gray to try freezing the war, but I shook my head and interjected, "Won't work. I tried it earlier Lucy." Natsu threw himself at the wall again, only to be sent flying. I shut my eyes tightly trying to think over Erza, over Gray and Natsu. What was I missing?!

Natsu threw himself at the wall again and Lucy caught him when he rebounded, holding him.

"You're going to get torn to shreds." Lucy screamed at Natsu, who froze and turned to stare at her. It hit me as Lucy asked Natsu what was the matter.

"Your Celestial Spirits!" I yelled. Interrupting Natsu's similar declaration, "Do you have any that can help us get out of this mess?!" I continued. Natsu starts ranting about using one to teleport outside and Lucy shoots him down.

"But Lucy do you have any that could dispel the barrier or maybe get us through it?" I state firmly as I stand up straight. Then I notice Happy mumbling to himself then he jolted.

"I just remembered Lucy!" Happy cried out.

"Remembered what?" Lucy asked him.

"Remembered what I was supposed to tell you on the way here!" Happy exclaimed then proceeded to pull out a key.

"Lucy, is that a new celestial spirit key?!" I asked with growing enthusiasm.

"How did you get your paws on Virgo's key?! Didn't anyone ever teach you that stealing is wrong?!" Lucy yelled at Happy. I walked over and separated the two of them.

"Happy explain, now!" I ordered.

"I didn't steal it, Virgo asked me to give it to you! Her contract with Everlue was broken when he was arrested, and she decided that she wanted to form a new contract with you! She asked me to give you her key!" Happy declared.

"That's nice but I'll have to deal with her later." Lucy responded and Happy tried to protest causing Lucy to force him to be quiet. Gray and Natsu began to remark how she can be scary too and I edged back a few feet.

"I'm sorry, I just thought that since Virgo can dig holes she could dig one and get us to the other side of the barrier…" Happy whimpered. Erza and Gray were shocked at the revelation, so was I for that matter, Natsu was clueless and Lucy's entire attitude changed in seconds. She praised Happy and apologized for pinching his face. Lucy takes the key form Happy and stands back from the rest of us.

With calm voice she says, "I call upon thee, in the world of the Celestial Spirits, and now I beckon you to my side at once, pass through the gate! Open gate of the maiden, Virgo!" A drilling sound can be heard from below and pretty young women with pink hair in a maid's costume appears before Lucy.

Lucy looked utterly confused as Virgo states, "You summoned me mistress? What can I do for you?"

Lucy manages to stammer out, "Who are you?"

I step forward and ask Lucy, "You don't recognize the spirit? I didn't think other celestial spirits could come through gates meant for others." I ask. Natsu steps forward and begins exchanging pleasantries with the spirit, obviously recognizing her. Virgo explains she changes to reflect her master's sense of aesthetics.

Lucy explains that we don't have a lot of time and she has no time to form a proper contract, to which I nod my agreement, then asks Virgo to drill us a hole to the other side of the wind barrier. Virgo agrees and begins to drill a hole.

"Wow! Look at her go!" Gray exclaims with excitement while Erza gives Lucy a bone crushing hug that has me smiling. Things were going to be alright. We hear a dragging noise and see that Natsu has Kage and is supporting him.

"I know he's one of our enemies, but I'd feel guilty if we just left him here to die." Natsu explains.

Erza smiles and even Gray nods. I approach and lay my hands on Kage's ice bandage and strengthen it. I stagger a little and Gray summons a block of ice as large as his torso.

"Thanks." I say before digging into the ice, replenishing my energy.

We all enter the tunnel, with Virgo leading us, followed by Natsu and Kage, Happy, myself, Lucy, Gray, and Erza.

As Natsu emerges I see him lay Kage down and shout to Happy, "Let's go catch this punk!"

"Aye sir!" Happy responds, unfurling his wings.

I clap my hand down on their shoulders. "Now, where do you two think you're going?" I say from behind.

Happy pales but Natsu merely turns and looks me dead in the eye. "I'm going to catch Erigor." He states with determination.

I smile at him, and release him. I freeze the beginnings of an ice trail and turn to them.

"I'm coming with you, Happy I going to fasten some rope to you, with you going at mach speed, it should be enough give me a sling-shot effect, once you get me started, my own momentum should allow me to keep up with you both so we can kick Erigor's ass!" Natsu cheers as I grab some rope from the back of the magic mobile and fasten it around Happy, who picks up Natsu with his tail.

"Alright, let's go!" I shout stepping onto my ice path. Happy is off with a bang, I almost can freeze a new path fast enough. I release the rope, my own momentum is enough now. I keep up with the boys as we wind our way towards Clover.


	4. Chapter 4

Natsu and I sped toward Erigor, following our noses. Natsu roared in triumph as we spotted him over Clover Canyon.

"We've got you now, bet you didn't know cats can fly." Natsu exclaimed. I smirked and wove my ice closer to Erigor.

"Never underestimate Fairy Tail!" I yelled, as Natsu slammed into Erigor at Happy's mach speed. They went crashing to the ground and I moved my ice to follow. Natsu landed in a crouch and caught Happy, who was absolutely worn out.

"Hey Little Buddy, you ok?" Natsu asked with concern.

"Yeah, I'm okay but I'm, so tired, I can't fly…" Happy was exhausted, it took a lot from him to use that much magic in one go.

"Don't worry little buddy, I think I can handle it from here." Natsu reassured him.

I smirked, "Don't you mean we can handle this Natsu?" Then our banter was interrupted by Erigor's rather unpleasant sounding voice.

"You again! You all are some of those pesky Fairy Tail flies. What are you doing here?" He was weakened from Natsu's attack and his subsequent fall.

"Kicking your ass Reaper, and retrieving Lullaby while we're at it." I snarled at him as the ground around me began to freeze.

"I'm going to burn you and that stupid flute of yours to a crisp!" Natsu growled, his hands alight with flame.

"So you were able to break through my wind barrier, you little flies can be such a nuisance. Now get out of my way kids… or else." Erigor lifted his hand and a magic circle appeared, sending a burst of wind at Natsu and I. I froze my feet into the ground so he was unable to move me. Natsu however, was thrown back.

"Is that, all, you, got?!" Natsu managed to yell out as he was shoved back inch by inch. Erigor shoved him back further but Natsu leapt into the air, using his flames like rocket boosters. With a roar he landed where Erigor had been and demolished that portion of the train tracks. I stepped forward and unleashed my spell. "Ice dragon Icicle tempest!" I created a mass of icicles and heaved them at Erigor, who blocked them with his scythe and then used it to block Natsu's punches. His face showed an uneasiness and he leapt into the air and flew above us.

"Come one! What are you doing up there you coward, come down here and fight me like a MAN!" Natsu bellowed at him.

"Now you're sounding like Elfman." I murmured and Natsu sent me a dark glare.

"Don't get too cocky flies! STORM BRINGER!" Erigor responded before unleashing another magic circle that sent spirals of wind towards us. I was caught off guard and sent flying into the air along with Natsu. We were caught in a twister. I struggled to right myself, to cast a spell, but I couldn't see which way was up in the vortex we were caught in. As I was sent spinning over the canyon, I formed a pillar of ice that I latched into the ground, saving me from certain death. I reached a hand out to grab Natsu, only to watch him fall into the Canyon. He yelled as he plummeted and Erigor laughed and began to mock him.

My body felt like it was on fire with red-hot rage. I turned my glare toward Erigor who had a snarl on his face as I slid onto solid ground.

"Big mistake." I growled as I let my magic power flow loose. Ice began to creep over my skin, my hair and my clothing. In a few short moments, I was covered in ice. "Take me on you wind freak!" I jumped into the air and began to throw punches. Erigor wasn't laughing now as he fended me off using his his gaze was diverted to my left and I turned my gaze and stared in shock.

It was an orange gleam of fire, a pillar of it, that leapt up from the chasm and latched onto the tracks. Natsu was at the end and he used it to pull himself up onto the tracks.

"Natsu!" Happy and I cried out. He was alright! The distraction had cost me however. Erigor used the end of his scythe and sent me spinning into the track. It did little damage though, as I was still in my ice form.

"Decided to quit being lazy?" I joked with Natsu, though my voice held a slight note of relief.

"That was close one." Natsu chuckled as he spoke and I nodded.

Erigor reared back and his voice held a tremble of fear in it, "But that's impossible."

"You must be pretty cold up there, half-naked like that. Want me to warm you up?" Natsu thundered and Erigor began to shake his head frantically.

"Your flames and ice are powerless against me!" Erigor replied though his voice held fear.

"Oh yeah? We'll see about that. Aquila, you thinking what I'm thinking?" Natsu grinned.

I smirked, "Bring it." I slid into my stance, and a magical circle appeared in front of me. "Ice Dragon, ROAR!" I unleashed my breath attack, a flood of icicles and snow. It joined with Natsu's roar and began to spin towards Erigor.

"Storm Wall!" Erigor yelled as he held a magical circle up that created a wall of wind that blocked our attack. I swore as Natsu laughed.

"Although you alls powers are remarkable, you're still no match for me. Enough of this cat and mouse chase. It's time to get serious." Erigor spoke with calm assurance.  
'I'm ready when you are." Natsu smirked and I readied myself for the battle. Erigor was ready to unleash his full power on us now.

"STORM MAIL!" Erigor began to spin his scythe in front of him in a circle, generating enormous amounts of wind, which began to encircle him. "Here I come!" Erigor thundered and launched himself towards Natsu, who met his attack and was thrown back. Natsu's attack had done no damage. "What's the matter, can't handle the breeze?" Erigor taunted us.

"Coward! You just had to go and wrap yourself in a wind barrier. This will break through it." Natsu put his hands together and a glowing magic circle appeared once more. "FIRE DRAGON IRON FIST!" His punch collided with Erigor's and dissipated in the face of the wind. "What the-? I don't understand, why did my fire go out?" Natsu was confused and I took the chance.  
I moved forward and yanked him back, stating, " It's wind, it's moving too fast for you to break through. Maybe it's time you let ice have a go?"

Erigor cackled, "Just as I thought, you're completely useless without your flames. It looks like I have the upper hand."

"Have you forgotten, ABOUT ME?" I thundered. I slammed into him sending his wind covered form reeling back. "Wind can't melt ice. Hear this Erigor, I'm the Icy Damsel, Glacial Aquila, and a S-Class wizard who stands on par with Titania Erza. I will not be beaten by a second-rate magician such as yourself." I lunged at him and began to punch at his figure. Every punch or kick I sent slamming into him with my ice-covered fists sent him reeling back. Then I froze as he smirked.

"Your attacks barely touch me. I've lost my patience little flies." He unleashed a burst of wind that sent me reeling back.

"Damn. My attacks aren't worth crap if I can't break through. Got any ideas Natsu?" Natsu roared and leapt into the air and attempted to get in a hit, but he couldn't even touch the bastard.

"Time for my soaring phoenix magic. It shreds everything it touches." Erigor cackled as he summoned several magic circles that began to spin in crazy direction.

"That's a very dangerous spell. Natsu, Aquila, whatever happens, don't let it touch you!" Happy called out to us. I nodded and Natsu let out a sound of assent.

"Goodbye, Fairy Tail Flies!" Erigor bellowed and unleashed his spell. Natsu and I were sent flying backwards. Natsu landed with a thud, while I managed to keep my balance and land in a crouch.

"Come on Natsu, you have to get up! Hurry!" Happy cajoled his partner while I rose up.

"Ha ha ha, I'm surprised his body is still in one piece after that attack. Not too shabby for wizards so young. And you don't seem to be affected at all. After I play a melody for those old guild fools, they'll be joining you two in your eternal rest." Erigor laughed and I spun around.

"Dammit Natsu, get up! This is no time for laying around." I yelled at my fellow slayer. I turned back to face Erigor. "Alright, I'm done holding back. If you want the masters, you will have to face me, and I'm no easy opponent. Dragon slayer: Secret- what?" I felt an intense heat coming from behind me and I stopped my attack. I turned, it was Natsu!

"No, how are you still standing?!", Erigor cried out in horror.

"I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE, I HAVE, TO BEAT HIM!" Natsu howled as an enormous fire began to burn around him. Erigor squinted his eyes in concentration and Natsu's flames began to burn hotter and higher.  
'He's really doing it, he's changing the direction of the wind." Happy muttered and my eyes widened. It made sense. The currents of the air were following the heat, which rises, the flames were dragging Erigor's wind in towards Natsu.

Happy got a devilish expression on his face, "Natsu, just give up, you can't handle this, just give in and let Gray handle it." Natsu flames died for a moment, then rared up even higher,

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?!" Natsu boomed and it finally made sense, his flames fed off his emotions, similar to how my ice expanded based upon mine.

"Curse You." Erigor muttered as his storm mail was finally dragged away.

I grinned and showed off my fangs, 'Well then, seems like it's my turn for a display of power." I lifted my arms in the stance my dragon, Isole taught. One up to my right the other down to my left. "ICE DRAGON: Frozen Blossoms!" I thundered as ice grew in clusters around each of my hands, and I began to spin, sending clusters of my icy flowers in a deadly arc towards Erigor, throwing him into the air as ice crystals fell around us, remnants of my attack. "FINISH HIM NATSU!" I yelled and Natsu launched himself towards Erigor.

"FIRE DRAGON SWORD LEGS!" Natsu sent Erigor flying and he landed in a heap on the ground. As Natsu's flames dimmed, he turned towards Happy, "So did you see that Happy?"

"You showed him that if you mess with the Salamander, you're going to get toasted!" Happy declared triumphantly.

"You didn't seem too sure of me earlier." Natsu groused to which Happy replied,

"Cat's have a really bad short term memory you know?"

As those two began to argue, I crouched down next to Erigor, and reached for the flute that had fallen.

"Natsu! Aquila!"I heard a voice and turned to see Lucy, Gray, and Erza approaching.

"I'm proud of both of you." Erza said wearily as Lucy helped her down from the magic mobile.

I rushed over to my friend and helped to support Erza. "You overdid it again, didn't you?"

Erza rolled her eyes and stated, "We had to get here as soon as possible." We began laughing however, when we heard Natsu ask Lucy for her clothes and her response to his question.

"Anyway, well done Natsu, Aquila. Thanks to you all, the guild masters will be safe now. While we're here, I think we should stop by the guild masters conference to tell them what happened. Then ask them how we should properly dispose of the Lullaby flute." Erza concluded.

"Might as well, since we're so close to Clover." Happy agreed. As we turned to pick up the flute, we all had to dodge several shadows.

"Kagey!" Erza yelled.

"What do you think you're doing?!" Gray thundered as the mage took off with the magic mobile and Lullaby.

"Lullaby is mine now, shouldn't have let your guard down flies!" Kagey cackled as he headed down the road.

"THAT JERK!" Natsu cried out.

"This is how he pays us back for saving his life?!" was Lucy's outcry.

Erza's was merely a command, "After him!"

"Gray, care to help a lady out?" I smirked at the ice make wizard. "Hit me up with some ice!" I commanded and Gray smirked at me then complied. I wolfed down the ice and felt rejuvenated. "Now, everyone on!" I yelled as I began to freeze one of my slides. Gray made some skates for everyone and we began to hurry towards Clover.

We slid to a stop in the woods and saw Kagey with Master. We made to move forward but Master Bob, the master of the Blue Pegasus guild, appeared before us, scaring Gray, Lucy, and Natsu.

"Shhh, we're just about to get to the good part." he whispered. Then realizing that Gray and Natsu were there he began to flirt with them, giving both of them a case of the scares.

"Who is that guy?!" Lucy sidled over to Erza and I as we watched Master Bob flirt with Gray and Natsu.

As Erza explained to Lucy who Bob was, he paused in his flirtations and spoke to us.

"Oh Erza honey, you have really filled out, and Aquila dearie, you're still as pretty as ever."

Lucy hid behind Erza and I stifled a grin. Master Bob took some getting used to but, at least he wasn't interested in women, unlike the rest of his infernal guild. We stopped for the moment to watch a final exchange between Master and Kagey, who then dropped to his knees and conceded defeat.

We ran down to Master and began to cheer. Makarov was amazed to see us all in Clover.

"Master, your words were so beautiful, they almost moved me to tears!" Erza exclaimed as she gave the master a bone-crushing hug.

I tapped her and whispered, "Erza what was the point of saving him, if you're just going to crush him?"

"Forgive me master! You may crush me as penance!" Erza declared and while I went to work calming her down, Natsu and Gray talked with Makarov, Lucy comforted Kagey and Bob ogled over the boys.

I laughed, only this crazy guild. Then naturally everything went south because when does anything go right really?

"Ha ha ha! I've grown tired of you wizards and your antics !" A voice groaned out from the flute and a dark magic circle appeared in the air in front of us, as smoke poured out from Lullaby. "I can no longer hold back! I shall come forth to devour you myself!" The voice continued and from the magic circle, a giant monster materialized. "I shall feast upon your pitiful souls!" The monster declared.

"What is that thing? Erigor never said anything about a monster!" Kagey cried out.

"Well, we're in a pickle." Bob stated and Goldmine, the master of Quatro Cerberus, continued, stating, "It must be a demon from the book of Zeref."

The townspeople panicked and began to run for cover. Which all things considered, was the wisest course of action for them.

"Why did the flute turn into a monster?!" Lucy squeaked out, her voice high pitched with fear.

"That's what Lullaby's true form looks like, in the flesh. It's forbidden black magic, living magic. Zeref's specialty." Goldmine stated once more.

As the others murmured amongst themselves, no one was paying attention to Lullaby, who had leaned over and opened it's mouth wide to speak.

"Now then which of these delectable souls shall I dine on first?" He said.

As Gray and Natsu began to bicker, about food of all things, Erza turned to them and snapped out orders, "Natsu and Gray, get everyone to a safe place!"

"Quit barking orders!" Natsu argued and Gray added, "Who put you in charge?!"

My eyes flashed and I whipped around to the two of them, "Just go you imbeciles!" I thundered as ice spikes began to shoot up around me.

They gulped and spoke out a hushed, "Aye!' and ran off to do Erza's bidding, however they didn't get very far before Lullaby fired a gigantic blast out of it's mouth at the Fiore army contingents.

"Those pathetic humans! I prefer the taste of a wizard soul, and I will consume all of yours!" Lullaby cackled at us.

"Oh yeah?! I'd like to see you try, bring it on big guy!" Natsu hollered at the monster as Lucy and the other guild masters stood back, leaving Erza, Gray, Natsu, and myself at the front.

Lullaby took a deep breath and a huge magic circle appeared over its head, creating a loud shrill noise that was murder on my ears.

Erza drew her swords, and I felt my ice layer around my body once more. I pulled my hair free from its long braid and allowed its icy strands to flow free and they began to writhe and weave with my ice crystallizing the strands.

"Ready?!" Erza called out as she and I launched ourselves at Lullaby with Gray and Natsu following us. Erza requipped into The Knight armor and slashed at Lullaby's face.

Gray stood on the ground and began his spell, "Ice Make Lance!" Gray unleashed dozens of shards of ice that pierced through Lullaby's torso.

I smirked it was my turn, "ICE DRAGON NEEDLE SHARDS!" I raised my arms as my frozen long hair snapped off and spread out behind me in a large arc. I then sent them spinning into and across Lullaby's torso, resulting in a series of explosions.

"Now it's my turn!" Natsu declared as his fists came together to create magic circle. "FIRE DRAGON IRON FIST!" Natsu jumped upward and slammed into Lullaby's face, causing the beast to recoil. I humphed, bastard always had to show me up.

"YOU ARE MAKING ME ANGRY!" Lullaby screamed as he destroyed the rock formation we had been on, forcing us all into the air.

Erza retaliated with a slash across his arm. Gray with a cannon sending ice shard flying across the air. "Icicle TEMPEST!" I roared as I sent my jagged spears of ice plunging into his hide.

"I'm not finished with you yet! FIRE DRAGON WING ATTACK!" Natsu hollered as he leapt into the air once more, his arms trailing flames, slashing them across Lullaby's face.

Lullaby began to roar, and it's magic circle disappeared. _The song, it's about to begin!_ I thought with urgency.

"Just one note and your souls will be mine!" Lullaby thundered and unleashed his song.

Or perhaps attempted to unleash would be a better comparison. Not a single note was unleashed from Lullaby.

"I don't understand, why can't I play my melody of death?!" Lullaby wheezed. I saw the holes that we had formed from our attacks and came to the conclusion that it could not play because their were too many holes to form a proper melody now. As Lucy, Happy, and Kagey began to discuss how lame flutes were, Lullaby howled with rage, "You dare MOCK ME?!" He destroyed a mountain in his anger. Lullaby turned towards us and its eye sockets glowed.

"Gray!" I yelled. He turned towards me with a nod and we moved in front of the bystanders.

"Ice make SHIELD!" Gray yelled, and as his shield expanded I merged with it, creating my ultimate defensive ability, Frozen Heart. As I merged with his shield, my essence spread through it and strengthened it with my natural ice. Lullaby's attack hit the ice and it did not break. I held it together with Gray's ice as a support and foundation.

"I WILL KILL YOU ALL!" Lullaby roared, then halted as Natsu began to eat the flames caused by its attack.

"Oh yeah? Now I've got a fire in my belly." Natsu grinned as he finished his meal. I began to seep out of the ice shield, eating it as I went, a power-up never went amiss.

"You're not human! You're a monster!" Lullaby yelled as Natsu dodged its punch and went running up his arm.

"Oh like you can talk!" Natsu yelled back continuing his way up Lullaby's arm.

"Requip!" Erza yelled as she transformed into her black-winged armor. The end was near for this flute. I finished emerging from the ice and jumped back into the battle. "Ice Dragon, Frozen Spheres!" I unleashed spheres of ice to slam into Lullaby's chest.

"Ice Make Saucer!" Gray yelled, sending a circular blade of ice through Lullaby's torso as well.

Erza sliced through Lullaby's mouth cause the beast to roar in agony.

"Natsu!" Erza and I cried out.

"Do it now!" Gray yelled.

"I've got this, the flames of my right hand, and the flames of my left, put the two together, and this is what you get! FIRE DRAGON BRILLIANT FLAME!" Natsu bellowed and threw the massive flame towards Lullaby.

With a flash of white light and an enormous explosion, Lullaby was turned back into a flute, defeated.

"Well done." the Master commented.

'You kids are amazing!" Master Bob cooed.

"You all made defeating Zeref's demon look easy." Goldmine added.

"Great work out there guys!" Lucy cheered.

"Thanks, but it wasn't a big deal." Natsu laughed.

"Piece of cake." Gray said nonchalantly, causing us all to break out into laughter.

Erza froze for a moment as the townspeople spoke saying, 'We owe a big thank you to Fairy Tail, but still… They went OVERBOARD!"

Erza and I went white as we turned and say the crater that we had left from our battle.

Master went pale and passed out in dead faint.

"Please forgive us Master!" Erza cried out, while Natsu laughed at the destruction caused. I merely shook my head at the destruction. What did they expect? We were the strongest guild, though that didn't stop us from being chased out by an angry mob.

We fled as a group, Erza carrying Makarov, Gray and I in the lead, Lucy close behind, and Natsu laughing like a maniac the whole way.

 **A/N (UPDATED 12/20/17) : So a big thanks to my beta Solarking, who has been slowly helping me beta these chapters!**


	5. Chapter 5

We had been walking for days! After the Lullaby incident, where we fled for our lives from the angry townspeople, we had been wandering around canyons and mountains for days.

"Ah Jeez! Come on Happy, don't tell me that you got us lost again! We've been walking for forever and a half and we still haven't found Magnolia yet! WHY ARE WE FOLLOWING A CAT ANYWAY?!" Lucy screamed in frustration as Happy led us to yet another dead end.

"What do you mean, AGAIN?! How rude! I wasn't lost last time, so this is the first time I've gotten us lost!" Happy whined in response.

"First time or not, let's just try to make it our last, okay?" Lucy whined in response. I sighed, these two could fight for days and never stop. It was becoming quite tiring.

"Man, I want some food." Natsu groaned as he held his stomach.

"We all do, talking about it just makes us hungrier." Gray said angrily. I was just as hungry as the rest, you could hear our stomachs grumbling.

"I can't help it if I'm hungry, jerk!" Natsu yelled at Gray.

"No, but you can stopping running your mouth can't you?!" Gray yelled back.

'LISTEN UP! We need some food." Master moaned.

"Yeah, WE KNOW!" Natsu and Gray yelled simultaneously in response. That's when it hit me.

"Gray! Can you use your magic and make me some ice blocks?" I asked excitedly.

"Uhm, sure, but how's that going to solve our food problem?" Gray muttered as he complied and created some blocks of ice. Which is when I started munching on them.

"That's not fair! How come you get to eat and the rest of us don't?!" Natsu howled. I smirked as I continued to shovel blocks of ice down my throat.

"Because, we happen to have an ice-make wizard, I happen to be an ice-dragon slayer, which means I can eat ice. Ergo, I can eat which means at least I can drag you all back to Magnolia when you've passed out from hunger." I grinned at Natsu's enraged expression. He made to start melting my ice when Erza interrupted our quarrel.

"Enough!" She yelled. We all went silent, just in time for us to hear her stomach growl.

"Your stomach's trying to tell you something, isn't it?" Natsu said to Erza, who maintained an irritated expression.

"No it's not. You're hearing things." Erza declared.

"Uh yeah, real convincing, Erza." Gray commented. Erza glared at Gray, who began to pray for his soul, when Happy's shrill shriek of joy interrupted them.

"What are you excited about?" Natsu asked Happy, who began to gesture wildly towards the canyon.  
"Down there! Look, Natsu, look!" Happy screamed and we all peered over the edge of the cliff.

Flying about in the canyon were several blue fish with golden faces and wings, with light green fins.

"Those are wing fish! They're a legendary delicacy, and they're super yummy from what I hear!" Happy crowed as he began to chant, "yum" over and over again.

"They're a legendary delicacy?" Gray spoke with healthy amount of skepticism.

"Winged fish huh?" Erza spoke aloud as she pondered the idea.

"Sounds good to me." Natsu was practically drooling over the thought of food. I scoffed, didn't matter to me, I was full from eating the ice Gray made earlier. Not to mention, considering Happy's track record for remembrance and correct information, I was slightly skeptical.

Master Makarov, however, was not very skeptical. "Well done Happy, you've made this old man very proud." He cried tears of joy as his stomach growled.

"Guys enough with the growling stomachs." Lucy whimpered, before her stomach let out a growl.

"You were saying?" Gray cocked an eyebrow at Lucy and I started to laugh.

"Shut. Up." Lucy response was very succinct to say the least. I giggled a little more before getting myself under control. It wouldn't do to have Lucy upset at me as well.

"Now, time to fish." Happy declared before setting himself up on the cliff face, followed by Master, Lucy, Natsu, Gray, and Erza. I merely sat besides them, playing with melding my ice into different forms, for an… idea I was working on.

"Come on you stupid fish, just shut up and let me eat you." Natsu groaned as they all waited for a bite on their lines.

"We've got to fish harder guys!" Happy declared.

Lucy made a face at the fish that were making all the ruckus and asked, "I don't know, are you sure these guys taste all that good?"

Erza was in no mood to indulge Lucy however, commanding her to, "Be quiet and fish. Anything edible will do." with a serious tone.

Lucy scooted closer to me with a horrified expression. "I didn't know you were that hungry." She whimpered. I covered my mouth in order to stifle my laughter. Lucy hadn't figure out yet that Erza was not as scary as she sounded. Neither was I for that matter.

On the other side of us, Happy began to yell abuse at the fish, which all in all did not have much of an effect. When nothing happened appeared to lose all his spirit, "Whatever, I give up." Happy said sadly.

"That was fast." Lucy commented on Happy's lack of enthusiasm.

"Well, I couldn't catch a single fish." Happy pouted, sounding rather like a kindergartner.

"Well, you really want to eat one don't you? You shouldn't give up so easily, you can do it little guy." Lucy attempted to cheer up Happy, who due to his usual dramatic sense (which was lacking) ran off wailing about how he couldn't help that he was little.

I sighed, at this rate, they would never get anything to eat. Then Natsu caught a fish, causing a rush of excitement in everyone else. He fired the fish with his flames, then with a saigh said, "Go ahead and eat it Happy."

Happy hesitated saying, "But that wouldn't be fair to you guys would it?"

"It's way too small to split up, if we had a bite we'd just want more." Gray groused, tantalized by the smell of grilled fish. Even I was tempted by the smell.

"Just hurry up and eat it, before we change our minds!" Master fussed at Happy, who had stars in his eyes as he stared at his meal.

"Okay, don't mind if I do!" Happy cheered before biting into the fish, causing everyone's stomachs to protest their generosity.

As everyone bemoaned their lack of food Happy stuffed the rest of the fish in his mouth. The his eyes popped open wide and his mouth puckered. "GROSS!" Happy yelled as he spit out what was left in his mouth.

"Are you kidding me?!" Lucy bellowed, as with the news that the fish were not edible,w e packed up our things and began our journey home once more.

"I hate to say it but, all that fishing…" Natsu moaned.

"Made us hungrier." Master finished his sentence.

We all paused in shock however as we came upon a town.

"A village!" Erza called out in joy.

"Houses!" Gray added.

"And that means there must be," Happy continued.

"FOOOOOOOD!" Natsu howled as we all charged into the village, desperate to find a restaurant to eat at.

We stopped however when we came into the square and there were absolutely no people in site. The town was completely deserted.

"There's no one here." Gray stated, looking around.

"It does seem awfully quiet, doesn't it?" Lucy commented.

"Maybe they're taking an afternoon nap or something." Natsu said casually. "HEY! Anybody here?!" Natsu yelled out, his voice echoing off the walls of the canyon.

"We're starving like crazy out here! Somebody cook us some dinner!" Happy yelled with frustration.

"Wow Happy, ever hear the world please?" Lucy muttered tiredly, we were all exhausted, everyone besides myself was starving, and something was off in this town. I paused listening, it was odd, I couldn't hear any wind whistling through the canyon anymore. Something was very off down here.

"You really think they're all taking a nap?" Gray said scornfully.

'That or they all got drunk and passed out." Master added.

"I think that only happens back at the guild." Lucy stated, quite truthfully.

"Hmph, we do love our spirits don't we?" Master grumbled. I gave a smile at that, it was entirely true.

"You guys can hang out here all day but I'm going to find a kitchen to raid!" Natsu declared as he ran for some houses.

"Shame on you for even thinking about robbing this place Natsu!" Gray yelled as he followed Natsu, close behind him. I rolled my eyes at his antics, _what a hypocrite,_ I thought.

"You're just mad I thought of it first!" Natsu yelled back, as they both began to bang on doors.

Erza, Lucy, master and myself followed behind the two idiots. As Gray and Natsu banged on it, the door to the house creaked open, revealing a table full of fresh bread and hot soup.

"Looks like nobody's here." Gray stated as we looked in on the house.

"Who cares, there's food!" Natsu whispered and walked over to the table. He picked up a loaf of bread and made to bite into it when Erza intervened.

"Not so fast. There's something strange here." Erza declared as Natsu glared at her for interrupting his meal.

"She's right, who would leave a table of food just sitting there like that? And if somebody cooked this, then where the heck are they now?" Gray added.

"Something is off with this village. Natsu, I'm surprised you haven't pick up on it, I can't hear any wind whistling through the cavern and something just seems off. Call it dragon's intuition." I spoke as I took another whiff in the air, attempting to sniff out whatever the hell was wrong with this place.

Natsu however was only thinking with his stomach. "How should I know? Anyway, ready to dig in Happy?" Natsu grinned as Happy agreed and they both began to bite into their loaves of bread, when Scary Erza reappeared.

"Natsu!" Erza growled at him, her aura dark and ominous.

"Yes ma'am?!" Natsu whimpered.

"We need to investigate the village first. We've held out this long, we can hold on a little-" Erza's speech was interrupted by her stomach's growling.

"I think your stomach might have different plans." Lucy gave off a little giggle at Erza's growling stomach.

"Yes, but which one do we listen to?" Master murmured.

"Search the area for mushrooms or anything that looks edible. Don't eat the food in the village okay? While you all are doing that, Master, Aquila, and I will try to figure out what's going on." Erza issued the rest of the team's marching orders. Natsu, Lucy, Gray, and Happy left to go scavenge.

"Shall we split up?" I asked Erza while everyone else left.

"That's a great idea! I will investigate here, you two stick together and go check the other houses!" Master declared while all but shoving us out of the house.

Erza nodded her assent and we began to walk. All of the inanimate objects such as clotheslines with drying clothes, food on the tables, it all pointed to that whatever happened her ocurred only a short time ago, and during a time in which there was no panic or problem, it must've happened suddenly whatever it was. I paused as we looked out over the square and Erza halted next to me.

"What is it, Do you sense something?" Erza asked me. I shook my head.

"No , just a thought though. Why was master trying so hard to make us leave the house with all that food in it?" I said, the question no sooner leaving my mouth that Erza's aura grew dark and ominous once again. With a quick turn of her heel she turned and began walking back to the first house we entered.

As we stepped silently into the house, we discovered Master there, about to eat some of the food. "Master." Erza said in a serious tone.

"What are you doing with that bowl of food?" I added in the same tone.

"Eh, eh, I was just investigating, Erza, Aquila." Master stammered out. His expression was one of terror and that told us all we needed to know. "I'll be going now, done all I need to here anyhow." The master squeaked out then ran out of the room.

Erza shook her head at the master's behaviour while I struggled to hold in a giggle. Even our Master, was afraid of pissing off Erza. With the Master no longer about to get himself into trouble, we continued to search through the town.

"Can you scent anyone?" Erza asked me as I took in a deep inhale.

"No, I cannot, I can only smell everyone from our group. But I'm not seeing how I can only scent the seven of us, yet all of these chores and tasks appear to have just been completed." I confessed after taking yet another inhale. There was something peculiar in the air, not tangible enough to be a scent, but enough to be something. We came across a shed and entered into. The tools we found had magic power radiating off of them. Whoever had been here had been wizards and judging by the magics signatures, not friendly ones.

We rendezvoused with the Master in the square. "Did you find anybody?" Erza asked the master as we came closer to one another.

"Nope, not a single soul. The whole place has been deserted" Master reported.

"But if that's the case, why do all the houses have freshly cooked food on their tables?" Erza stated.

"Something isn't right here Master. There's almost a heaviness to the air, I can't scent anything tangible, but my instincts are saying something bad went down here." I said with deadly seriousness.

"Hold on. What is that?" Erza asked aloud, as we looked down and saw a carefully constructed fault in the ground beneath her feet.

It went on for a distance and Erza stated,"This isn't an ordinary crack in the ground. It must serve some kind of purpose." The crack was without flaw and almost seemed like a channel. Master, Erza, and I followed that line for a while until we came to a point where it intersected with another crack in the ground.

"This looks just like the other seam." Erza spoke and I dropped onto one knee next to it. The strange heaviness I could scent in the air seemed to be coming from the fissures. Then a sudden cacophony of noises began to echo throughout the area, hissing, roaring, and growling.

"What's that sound?" Erza said, her voice low. I sprang up and away from the seams then, as they began to glow a disturbing red.

"Erza, Aquila!" Natsu called out as he, Lucy, Gray, and Happy rushed over to us. "Be careful Happy." Natsu cautioned his friend.

Then the buildings started to glow red and became distorted. "Whoa, what's with this place?" Natsu spoke in a tone with just a tremor of fear in it.

"Why is everything moving?!" Lucy began to panic at the sight of everything beginning to turn red and writhe.

I elected to ignore Lucy and Happy to pay attention to Master's next comment. "It can't be." Master murmured as the ground began to move beneath his feet.

"It's time to rumble Gramps." Gray stated as he had already stripped and moved into position to use his magic.

"No wait!" Master called out, causing Gray to pause in his attack.

'What?" Gray asked, confused as to why Master was stopping him.

"We need to get to higher ground, there's something I have to check!" Master yelled out to the rest of us.

"Alright guys let's go. Try to stay close" Erza declared as she and I moved to follow the master.

Eventually we made it to the top, in time to watch all of the buildings turn into a writhing mass of monsters.

"Oh man, looks like we got out just in time." Natsu commented, as we watched the beasts churn below us.

"Now I see. It was a magic circle." Erza stated.

"That's right, those lines we saw in the village were carved into the ground to form a massive circle. A circle used for a type of magic that was banned many years ago. A form of sealing magic that was known as alive." Master explained. I nodded. The strange sense in the made sense now. It was the monsters just underneath the surface of the town.

'What does it do?" Luc asked Master.

"See for yourself. It's exactly what it looks like. It has the ability to turn inanimate objects into living creatures. It appears the villagers cast the forbidden spell only to end being eaten by the very monsters they brought to life." Master concluded.

"But would they use magic that's been banned?" Lucy said with frustration.

"This village, was home to a dark guild. While investigating, Aquila and I came across a collection of magic tools tucked away in a shed. Upon closer inspection, We realized they were tools used to practice black magic." Erza declared.

"Knowing how reckless dark guilds can be, they probably thought up some crazy plan and wound up getting burned in the process. But! There's one thing we should be grateful for. The dark guilds mischief brought these creatures to life. And most living creatures can be turned into, FOOD!" Master declared.

Everyone's stomachs let out a declaration of hunger at the same time.

"Now, time to chow!" Natsu crowed.

"At this point, I don't even care what they taste like." Gray declared.

Erza leapt down to go after the food, followed closely by Gray and Natsu.

Natsu proceeded to grill the monsters alive. Gray turned them all into popsicles. Lucy made her way down to Erza and I followed them. "Now, it's time to start cooking. Requip!" Erza declared, as she requipped into a chef's outfit, complete with meter long carving knives. At Lucy's expression I lost it, I was laughing so hard, I had to lean against a rock for support.

"Lucy, you try one." Erza declared after she had requipped back into her normal army. She had a mountain of bite size pieces in front of her. Lucy refused and with a sigh Erza tried one. Lucy and I waited for the verdict.

"So how is it?" Lucy asked Erza who merely held out a stick to her. "Alright you win." with a sigh Lucy took the bite size piece. She bit into it and her expression was absolutely hilarious. I started laughing again and fell over as she began to spit it out while wailing about how awful it tasted.

Natsu, Lucy, and Gray all rounded on Master, insisting to know why he thought it was a good idea to eat this stuff. As they debated what to do Happy was in shock and I was still laughing.

"Look out!" Natsu called as he smashed into a monster that had risen up behind Happy.

"Man these things are nasty." Gray declared, as we viewed the wall of them that had grown around us.  
"And in more ways than one." Erza commented.

"I'm going to blow you to pieces. Fire Dragon WING ATTACK!" Natsu roared as he barbecued one of the monsters.

"Ice-make WALL!" Gray yelled, freezing over some of the beasts.

"Ice Dragon ICICLE TEMPEST!" I threw my hands out pulling water from the air and generating a circle of icicles that I hurled into the group of monsters.

Erza roared as she requipped into The Knight and began to slice the monsters apart.

"I want to help." Lucy declared as she pulled out one of her gate keys. " OPEN, Gate of the Golden Bull, TAURUS!" With an explosion, a large bull appeared, wielding a huge axe. As he stabbed his axe into the ground, a fissure ran through the ground, demolishing a portion of the monsters.

We regrouped only to find ourselves facing more monsters. "They just keep coming!" Natsu said.

"Great, what's happening now?!" Lucy spoke aloud as the monsters began to writhe and a glow appeared from below us once more.

"The magic circle!" Gray shouted.

"Are you kidding me?!" Natsu yelled.

Lucy and Happy began to argue, and Erza spoke quietly. "This is bad." She murmured.

I moved closer to her and began to ice my fists and forearms over in preparation for a fight. "What's bad Erza? What am I missing here?" I asked my friend. She didn't respond as she yelled, "Run for it!" as the ground cracked beneath us.

It was too late, it crumbled and we all began to fall into the magic circle.

Unlike the rest of us who were screaming as we plummeted, Master remained calm, and in the blink of an eye, we were standing on even ground, facing a group of villagers.

Natsu launched straight into an interrogation, "Now spill it, what were you trying to pull?"

"We were using the magic circle to cast forbidden spells. But those monsters appeared and took over everyone in town." One of the wizards spoke up, with a downcast look in her eyes.

"Then you were inside those monsters?", Erza queried. Lucy jerked and turned pale, at the thought of having eaten some of the villagers.

"Maybe you ate one of their toes, or someone's finger, maybe they're looking for it right now." I whispered in Lucy's ear. With a shriek she began to panic and I started to laugh only to attempt to look serious when Master cast me a glare.

"The magic circle activated when you outsiders entered the village." A man spoke to us.

"That magic circle will never activate again. The details don't matter." He concluded, speaking over Natsu and the villagers questions.

"But you should be grateful that you were freed from your possession. If you swear to learn from this and obey the law from now, I won't report this to the council! Now what will it be?" Master declared.

"We never want this to happen again, we apologize to you for the trouble, we'll never do it again." The woman at the front murmured, as Master grinned, with a wicked smile.

The villagers had nothing left and stared at us in dumbfoundedness when we asked if they had any food, and thus we left, heading for home, and hungrier than ever. Except for myself of course, I was busy snacking on popsicles made of ice, crafted by Gray who was cooperating, thanks to Erza.

"I'm seriously starving…" Natsu moaned as we walked.

"I can't walk anymore…" Happy whined as he floated past on his wings.

"Quit using your wings to taunt us!" Gray yelled at Happy.

"I don't even know what's going on anymore…" Lucy bemoaned her fate behind the two boys.

Erza and I walked with Master. I was eating but paused when I heard Erza gain Master's attention. "Master?"

"Hm, yes"

"I'm not convinced by your explanation. When we defeated the monsters, something inside the magic circle activated and tried to destroy everything." _Ahh…_ I thought to myself. That's what Erza had been sensing before we fell.

"But then, in that instant, you saved us, lifted the dark guild's possession, and destroyed the magic circle itself. Isn't that right?" Erza finished, pausing to watch Master's reaction to her question.

"Maybe. But the more important matter is…" Master paused, and Natsu and Gray's voices joined his.

"We're still hungry!", they all said in unison.

We kept moving forward, it was all we could do when I caught it.

"Natsu, can you smell that?!" I yelled towards the front of our procession. He paused in his complaining and took a deep whiff of the air.

"You're right! I can smell it!" Natsu yelled back and took off with a whoop. I took off after him with a grin, grabbing Lucy and Gray and dragging them with me.

"Wha- where are we going?!" Lucy shrieked as Erza and Master raced after us.

"The smell of home!" I yelled as we all sprinted over one final mountain to see a green home below us.

Natsu and Lucy cheered.

"I don't know about all of you but I'm going home now. I really want a bath, and some food!" Lucy declared as she summoned one of her spirits, a tiny, white one that resembled a snowman.

"If Lucy's going home, then I guess I will too. See you guys at the fight tomorrow." Gray called over his shoulder as he began to walk, stripping as he went.

"Gray, your clothes!" I called back and laughed as I watched him panic and attempt to collect all of his missing clothes. At least he hadn't lost his boxers yet.

"Well little buddy, what do you say to going fishing and catching us some grub?" Natsu asked Happy, rubbing his hands together with a maniacal grin.

"Aye sir!" Happy jumped into the air and the two took off.

"We'd best go to the guild, otherwise the other brats will worry." Master grumbled and began to walk that way with Erza and I following. I had a certain someone that I needed to see, and some of Mira's cooking wouldn't be bad either.

As we thundered into the guild, Master called out, "We're back brats!"

"Oh, Welcome home Master, Erza, Aquila. How did it go?" Mira asked with a smile.

"Oh you know us Mira, same old, same old, destroyed some buildings, fought the bad guy, kicked his ass, got lost then tada, we're back again!" I shouted with a grin. Master gave a grin at my explanation while Erza gave a small smile. As Master and Erza began to discuss the events, I slid into a bar seat. "Hey Mira, can I have my usual, and make it cold." I gave my ordered and with a smile, Mira whisked away to get my order.

"Well hey hero. Can I get you a drink, it's all on me." A drunken voice yelled from behind me and flung her arms around me.

"Nice to see you, Cana. I'll take you up on that. Mira! A Jack Daniel's slush, and put it on Cana's tab!" I yelled down the bar.

"Got it!" Mira called back.

"Well Aquila, stay and have a drink with me. One or twenty!" Cana cackled with her arms around me and I grinned.

"Not today Cana, just one and then I'm beat. As soon as Stella comes in, we're out of here, so she won't need to stay with Bisca for now." I stated and then with a grin dug into the plate of frozen food Mira placed in front of me.

"Mira, I love and I'm going to marry you as soon as I finish this food." I stated as I drooled then began to dig in.

Mira gave me a little smile and said, "You may have to fight Erza for me, she said the same thing after I brought her a whole strawberry cake."

I pondered for a minute then shook my head, "Sorry my darling Mira, but it appears the wedding is off." I gave her a grin then went back to stuffing my face.

I had just finished gulping down my Jack Daniel's and Cana was attempting to persuade me to drink with her when I heard the squeal.

"Aquila! I missed you!" The voice chirped from the top of my head, when two white paws attempted to cover my eyes. I grinned and reached up to tickle Stella right between the wings, causing her to giggle and fall into my lap.

"I missed you too, Stella. Did you behave for Bisca and Alzack?" I asked my exceed.

"Of course I did. You promised me ice cream if I did!" Stella chirped as she situated herself in my lap, and smoothed her green skirt and blouse down.

"Well then I best keep my word!" I smiled and Stella cheered and she scrambled down to the floor.

"Thanks for the food Mira!" I called down the bar and tossed some jewel down on the bar next to my empty plate. Mira was busy taking orders so she merely waved good bye in response.

I strode by Bisca and Alzack's table and handed Bisca some jewel. "Thanks for watching her." I thanked Bisca and then Stella and I continued out the door.

I was exhausted but a promise was a promise. Stella and I ran by her favorite ice cream place and got a carton to go, before making our way to the outskirts of town.

We ventured into the woods until we found our way to my cottage by the creek. Stella flew her and the ice cream to her perch on the rafters as I stripped and made my way to bed. I flopped down on the mattress, exhausted but excited, ready for tomorrow's fight between Natsu the Salamander, and Erza Titania. It was sure to be a grand sight, and if he beat her, which I doubted but didn't discount the possibility, then it would be fire versus ice.

With that final thought, I drifted off to sleep.


	6. Chapter 6

I rose with a groan as a banging on the door penetrated my sleep. Stella was curled up in her perch, snoring away. That cat could sleep through a battle. Muttering about how if it was a salesman I would freeze them solid, I yanked my door open.

"Geez, you sure can sleep. I've been out here for 10 minutes banging away on your door.", Gray complained as he stepped into my house.

"What's the big deal, I was sleeping!" I groused as Gray made himself comfortable.

"Have you forgotten already, Ice princess? Or are you still too asleep to notice what's going on? Today's the day. Erza versus Natsu.", Gray leaned back onto my couch.

With that remembered, I moved to go to my room and dress, when I recalled what I was wearing.

"Geez, you're as dumb as Natsu. Go put some clothes on." Gray stated, which was ironic as he began to peel himself out of his pants.

"You're one to talk, pervert!", I shoved him off the couch and yelled behind me as I disappeared into my room. I threw on my bandeau, and a black vest, the dark blue and black going well together and leaving me guild mark on my chest visible. I threw on shorts and made my way back into the living area as I yanked my combat boots on.

"Alright, let's go." Gray stated as he stood from my couch.

"Hm, oof, What's going on Aquila?", Stella had awoken and floated down to land on my head. With a twitch of my eyebrow, I reached up and covered her eyes.

"Nothing much, just getting ready to go see Erza fight Natsu. Also…", I slid Stella into my arms, keeping her eyes covered, then kicked Gray straight through the door. He laid groaning on my lawn and I dropped his clothes, including his boxers on top of him. "Keep your damn pants on in front of my cat, perv!", I locked the remainder of the door and started down the path to the guild.

"Oh, Aquila, can I fly you there, can I, can I?!", Stella squirmed excitedly. I laughed and placed her on the path.

"Go for it!" I encouraged her as she closed her eyes and concentrated on using her magic. When she succeeded and her wings appeared, she flew up and wrapped her tail around my waist.

"Alright! Next stop, Fairy Tail!", Stella cheered as she took off for the guild hall.

As we neared the guild hall, we could see the formations of the crowd beginning to form. "Alright, steady as we go, let's try a gentle landing Stella, I know you can do it!", I instructed my cat, who began to lower us slowly, slowly, and that ground was coming up very fast.

"Alright Stella, landing struts it is!" I yelped as I used my magic to create a slide to gently glide us to the ground.

"You always make an entrance, Aquila!" I heard a chipper voice behind me direct as we slid to a stop. I turned to see Mira and Elfman watching me.

"She always comes in like a REAL MAN!", Elfman bellowed and I let out a laugh.

"Aw, you guys are too kind. Mira, any chance the bar is open for breakfast?" I let the hope in my voice shine through as my stomach and Stella's let out a chorus of growls.

"I'm afraid not, though if you want, I can go whip you up a smoothie." Mira offered and I waved her off.

"Nah, I'll just get popsicle to make me a feast when he shows up. I'm off to find Cana."

"And why is that?"

I grinned at Mira, "Because, we both know if there's a chance to lay odds on something, Cana is always the bookie and I intend to place a bet. Come on Stella!", then I strode off to where a majority of the crowd seemed to be concentrated.

"Place your bets, I'm offering three to one on Erza and two to one on Natsu!", I overheard the voice of Cana through the crowd and shoved my through. "Ah, Aquila, my lovely, what can I do you for?" Cana cackled as she crouched by a board that calculated how many were betting on Erza and how many on Natsu.

"Why, Cana darling only offer me the best odds! I'll take ten to one, my money's on Erza and if I win big, you and I can hit the bars afterwards." I winked at Cana who let out a laugh.

"How could I possibly refuse Aquila? After this you and me, a contest."

"You're on, and now I must go cheer on my partner, we'll meet up after the match." I walked off with a laugh, towards the shock of red hair I could see in the crowd.

"Erza!", I waved as Stella walked off to go beg Mira for breakfast.

"Aquila, are you recovered from our travels?", Erza asked with a smile.

"You know me, a good sleep and I'm raring to go! The better question is how are you feeling?"

"I feel fine, this should be nice and relaxing." I grinned at her then sidled closer and wrapped my arm around her shoulder.

"Just between you and me, I have ten to one on you for winning the match, so do my bank a favor and don't lose." I whispered desperately into her ear.

"I shall try my best. You had better go join Mira and Gray. The match is bound to start soon, seeing as Natsu has arrived." No sooner than her words were spoken then a wave of heat rushed over us.

"I see your point, best of luck, I know you'll kick his ass!" I whooped as I ran over to Gray and Lucy.

As I approached I could hear Lucy saying, "W-wait, they're serious?!"  
I threw my arms around her from behind. "Of course they're serious Lucy!"  
"Aquila! You're here too! But what will happen to Fairy Tail's strongest team if they fight?", Lucy mumbled. With a frown I released her from my hold.  
"What are you talking about?", Gray asked Lucy.  
"Ezra, Aquila, you, and Natsu are Fairy Tail's strongest members, you're the top 4 wizards in the guild-"  
"Who told you that crap?" Gray interrupted her. Mirajane's eyes welled up with tears and she proceeded to start sobbing.

"Nice going icicle breath, you made her cry.", Lucy said with acid. I did my duty as Mira's friend by smacking him over the head.

"There are plenty of strong wizards in the guild, REAL MEN, like me!" Elfman declared.

"Yeah, but you've got to admit, Erza and Aquila are the strongest female wizards.", :evy stated, it seems that she had been eavesdropping on their conversation.

"As for the strongest man, you can't disregard Mystogan or Laxus.", Jet added. Gray was still attempting to stop Mirajane's crying when I smacked him.

"SHH!", I hissed when he glared at me, "The match is starting."

"How many years has it been since we fought like this?", Erza mused as the two faced off.

"It was different back then. I was a kid. Today, I'm going to beat you!" Natsu declared.

"I'm going to fight for real too. It's been a while since I truly tested my strength!" Erza declared as the glow of her requip surrounded her. She requipped into Flame Empress armor, a powerful choice, indeed. It would half Natsu's fire's power. Happy took one look and decided to change his bet. Lucy was panicking at the sight of it, and unsure of who to cheer on.

Natsu grinned and lit his fists up, "Flame Empress armor, huh? That's perfect! Now I can go all out without any hesitation!"

Makarov stepped forward to officially start and referee the match. "Begin!"

Natsu flew forward and struck out with his fists and Erza dodged to the left, while sending a flaming slash at Natsu. He ducked down to dodge, and struck back with a fiery kick, that Erza blocked with her sword. She struck out once again with a flaming slash that was narrowly dodged by a backwards handspring. Erza began to rush him when Natsu let loose his roar, which Erza merely dodged to the right while continuing on her original course, which led in front of an unfortunate section of the crowd, who, got fried, extra-crispy. They moved to collide once more when the sound of a gong interrupted them.

We all turned to see one of the frog-like creatures that work for the council approaching the battle. "That's enough. Everyone stay where you are. I am an emissary for the wizarding council.", as murmurs broke out in the crowd, it continued, "For the eleven crimes committed during the recent Eisenwald incident, including destruction of property, Erza Scarlet and Aquila Orion, you are both under arrest."

"Wh-what?!", Natsu roared.

"Both of you are to submit yourselves to the authority of the council and come with me to be present for your hearings.", the creature declared.

Erza requipped into her everyday armor and walked forward, and had handcuffs placed on her by the creature. "Tch. Sorry Cana, looks like our contest will have to wait.", I walked forward and let out a growl as the handcuffs were placed around my hands. The temperature dropped several degrees. As we were led into a magic mobile used for the transportation of prisoners, a scuffle broke out behind us. Erza and I turned to see Natsu trying to destroy the wagon, roaring about our innocence. Erza smiled at him as we were shut into the magic mobile.

"Come now Erza, don't tell me you're actually worried. This will be as typical as can be." I spoke into the darkness, neither Erza or I could see each other, as a precaution, I suppose.

"I'm not worried. You know how these hearings go. It's merely a formality to look like they maintain control. We don't need to worry.", Erza responded quietly.

"You don't sound like you're not worried."

"Imerely prefer not to have any interaction with the council."

"Erza does this have to do with why you attacked that one council member?"

"I can't say."

"Why not? We're partners, aren't we?"

"Aquila, _I can't_. To tell you would put so many people in danger."

I let our conversation drop, and felt ashamed for pressuring Erza to tell me. Trust was a two way street and neither of us were willing to cross it when it came to our pasts. I stared down into the darkness, wishing I had never thought of my past.

When we arrived at the council we were escorted by two of the frogs out of the magic mobile and were on our way to the courtroom, when we came across him.

"Siegrain!", Erza whispered.

"It's been awhile, Erza. And I don't believe I've had the pleasure of meeting your friend.", the blue-haired councilman said. Erza fell into a defensive position and followed suit.

"Don't be so defensive. This a projection, my body is in Era. All the geezers behind those doors are projections, too. There was no reason for us to personally come for such trifling business." Siegrain said, his voice dripping with poisonous honey.

I growled at the man, "We are members of Fairy Tail, blueberry, and we don't take kindly to being _trifling business._ "

He turned his smirking face towards me, and I strained against the cuffs. "Now who might you be? Oh I know, you're Aquila Orion, are you not? The oldest dragon slayer, the ice dragon slayer, the only equal to Erza Scarlet. You certainly possess some fire." His words would sound like compliments if it weren't for his mocking tone.

I let my skin begin to freeze and felt the hallway's temperature drop several degrees.

"I'm not fire buddy, I'm ice and if you don't quit with the insults, you're going to feel my frozen foot up your-"

"Aquila, enough.", Erza cut me off, never taking her eyes off of Siegrain. "Now I see. This was your doing? This is a pathetic farce!"

"That's not nice. I stood up for Fairy Tail. But the geezers had to come up with someone to take the blame for this incident, out of fear for blaming themselves. You two are scapegoats.", Siegrain began to walk away from Erza and I.

"Shut your mouth, asshole!", I snarled and made to lunge at him when Erza held her arm out in front of me. I glared at the councilman as frost began to spread beneath my feet.

"Now, now, there's no need for that. Now emissary, please escort Miss Orion into the chamber for her hearing, and then return for Miss Scarlet.", Siegrain instructed the frog. It nodded and gestured for me to follow it but I refused to move.

I made eye contact with Erza and we began a silent conversation.

 _Are you sure you want me to go?_

 _I'll be fine._

 _That's not what I'm asking you. Do you want me to go?_

 _He's a councilman, we need to follow his orders._

 _Erza, don't dodge my question._

"Aquila, it will be fine, just go, I will see you in a moment.", Erza stated out loud, breaking eye contact with me and turning her gaze back to Siegrain.

I glared at the councilman, "If she isn't in there in 2 minutes, I'll bust out of these cuffs, and you won't like it when I kick your ass and leave you to rot." With that as my final statement, I turned and allowed the frog to escort me into the hearing chamber.

I was led to the defendant's box where I stood and began to count down the seconds until I could go and kick that pretty boy's ass. I was sorely disappointed when a minute later, Erza led into the box and Siegrain shimmered into existence in his council seat.

The frog-like creature began to speak, "This wizard hearing will now come to order. Defendant's Erza Scarlet and Aquila Orion, please take the stand.", Erza and I stepped forward.

"Defendant Erza Scarlet, you stand accused of the partial destruction of Oshibana Station during the recent Lullaby incident perpetrated by Eisenwald, as well as the destruction of the Ryusika George Railway, and the complete destruction of the residential area of the town Clover. Aquila Orion, you stand accused of being an accomplice to all the aforementioned crimes. According to eyewitness testimony, the persons responsible were an armor-clad female wizard and a female wizard covered in ice who-", and then the doors exploded. "What one earth?", the judge stammered out as a horribly disguised Natsu burst into the room.

"I'm the armor-clad female wizard. Just try and catch me, I dare you!", Natsu began to spout small sparks of flame as I lost it. Erza was humiliated and in shock and I could do nothing but roll around on the floor, laughing until I could barely breath. "I'm Erza dammit, so tell what am I accused of?!", he continued to flame and jump around as Erza stared at him in horror. I finally managed to calm down enough to stop laughing, took one look at the council, and started all over again.

"Take them to a cell." The judge stated stunned.

"I'm so sorry.", Erza began to bow and apologize while Natsu rolled at her not to, and I attempted to stop laughing long enough to breath. Guards came in and dragged Natsu out, followed by Erza and myself, though I was still giggling furiously. They escorted us to a cell and threw Natsu in, then we followed him and were locked in. As soon as the guards were out of sight, Erza turned to a Natsu with a pissed expression.

"You leave me utterly speechless, you're stupidity knows no bounds! This was merely a formality!", Erza scolded Natsu, who looked utterly confused.

"It was a farce Natsu. So the council could demonstrate just how powerful they are, and how even they can bring down the Mighty Titania Erza and Glacial Aquila.", I explained further.

"I still don't get it.", Natsu complained.

Erza narrowed her eyes and leaned in towards the dragon slayer, "In short it means, we would be found guilty, but wouldn't be punished! We could've been back to the guild in time for a slice of cake but YOU had to go on a rampage!"

"WHAT?!", Natsu was shocked and more than a little ashamed. "Sorry."

"Still, it did make me happy.", Erza admitted with a smile, and pulled Natsu into a hug. I stifled a laugh at the thunk his head made on her armor. I cracked a smile.

"Ahem, you all are free to go.", a frog stepped over from the shadows. "The council has deemed your actions necessary in the face of danger.", the frog began to unlock the door and escorted us to the entrance where they slammed the door behind us.

"Friendly, aren't they?", I muttered.

"Well, we best get back to the guild, there's a train station about two miles away.", Erza declared and Natsu and I shared a look of mutual horror. There was no stopping the Queen of the Fairies though, and Natsu and I found ourselves feeling like we were going to hurl on a two hour ride back to Magnolia.

As soon as we arrived, Natsu and I practically threw ourselves out of the train. We made our way back to the guild, where I was mobbed by Stella as soon as I stepped inside the doors. Natsu began to run around, yelling about freedom and just generally disturbing the peace.

Erza slid into a table and cooed when Mira deposited a piece of strawberry cake in front of her. I slid into a bar seat next to Cana, who slid me an icy mug full of beer. "So Natsu, what about your battle with Erza?", Elfman called from his seat next to Gray and Lucy.

"Oh yeah, I forgot! Erza! Let's pick up from where we left off!", Natsu yelled.

"Don't be silly. I'm tired.", Erza stated while she devoured her cake.

"Here I come!", Natsu rushed at her. Erza sighed. She stood from where she was sitting and knocked Natsu out with one punch to the gut. Gray, Lucy, and Elfman stared at the defeated dragon slayer in shock.

"We have a winner!", Happy declared, and Gray and Elfman lost it. I grinned and slung my arm around Cana's waist.

"Well Cana, it look like I won on those ten to one odds, care to hit the bars?", I winked at one of my best friends who grinned.

"Why, I thought, you'd… never ask…", Cana's speech began to slur and she slumped over and I followed her into slumber, my last thought being _that damn Mystogan._

After an unknown time period, my eyes shot open. "Ugh, I hate his damn sleep magic!" I groaned as I eased myself back into a sitting sleeping position. The other guild members began to rouse and grumbled about being put to sleep. Gray began to explain to Lucy who Mystogan was, and why he put us all to sleep.

"Don't be nosy. Mystogan is shy.", a cocky voice called from the second floor. I growled, Laxus, the master's grandson, and a general pain in the ass was apparently in town.

"Laxus, Fight me!", Natsu yelled up at him.

"Didn't Erza just take you down?", Gray reminded Natsu.

"Yeah, you've got no chance against me if you can't even beat mere Erza.", Laxus yelled back. I let another growl loose and Cana let out a noise of frustration and I realized the area I was in was now a veritable winter and Cana's lips had frozen to the lip of her beer barrel. I grimaced and reined my aura back in.

"What does that mean?", Erza yelled up at Laxus.

"It means I'm the strongest!", Laxus yelled. I stood from my seat and turned to face Laxus.

"That so? Why don't we test your theory?", I snarled up at him as I began to coat my fists with ice.

He ignored me, the bastard, and taunted Natsu, who Makarov smashed to a pulp when he attempted to run up to the second floor, the S-class floor. "Got yourself in trouble!", Laxus taunted from the second floor.

"Laxus, that's enough out of you!", Master growled and Laxus took the opportunity to make one last bullshit statement.

"I refuse to let anyone else take the title of Fairy Tail's strongest, not even Erza, or Aquila, or Mystogan. I'm Fairy Tail's strongest wizard."

I rolled my eyes, he needed to put a check on his megalomania. I sighed and stood. "Mira could you bring me dinner on the second floor, I need to work on some paperwork to do with our last mission and pick a new job."

"Sure thing, Aquila. Just try not to kill Laxus while you're up there.", Mira grinned and proceeded to begin whipping up my dinner. I strode up the stairs and sat at one of the tables, far away from where Laxus was smirking at me. I began to rifle through the paperwork, when I caught a flash of blue. I discreetly took a whiff of the air and could smell Happy. What was he doing on the second floor? He wasn't allowed up here. I watched out of the corner of my eye as he snagged a job and flew off with it. I scowled. I was going to find out what job request he had taken and why. I stood and then remembered I had paperwork to file. I glared at it and then walked downstairs to see that only Mira, Lucy, and a few others were still in the guild. I walked into the archives and began to file the papers as quickly as I could. "Come on Stella!", I called to my cat, who was talking with Mira at the bar. She said goodbye and flew over to me.

Once I was done I walked out of the archives and took a whiff of the air. I noticed that Lucy was gone and Mira was closing up. I called out my goodbyes to Mira and Elfman as I followed my nose out through the door, looking for Natsu and Happy, what were they up to? As we walked I explained what I was doing to Stella, who yawned in response. I smiled at her and encouraged her to go home. With a sleepy nod she flew off.

I weaved through the streets until I came upon a canal where there was an apartment. I could smell Lucy, Natsu, and Happy were all inside, but the apartment must belong to Lucy as her scent was the most predominant.

I walked inside and found that Lucy had left her door open. I leaned in the doorway waited for them to notice I was there.

"How did you get that? You're not allowed in the second floor!", Lucy screamed as Happy showed her the stolen job.

"I stole it! I'm so good even Aquila didn't notice me.", Happy bragged. I couldn't let that insult to my sense go by unchallenged so I made my presence known.

"Actually, Aquila did notice you take it. And then she noticed that you were meeting up with your accomplices at this lovely apartment.", I stated with a steely tone. Lucy yelped and Happy began to beg for forgiveness and blame it all on Natsu. Natsu began to stammer and I laughed. They all froze and blinked at me.

"Oh relax, I'm not as stern as Erza. You want to go on an S-class right?", I clarified and Happy and Natsu nodded in unison. Lucy was waffling between to go or not to go. "I'll go with you, so that way you won't get in as much trouble. Lucy, you don't have to go but I would recommend you do, it says that they are offering a zodiac key as one of the rewards.", I grinned at Lucy's sudden change of mind.

"We can swing by my place on our way out of town so I can grab a pack and see if Stella wants to come. Let's go!", Natsu and Happy cheered as we began to make our way out of town, headed for Galuna Island, and adventure!


	7. Chapter 7

_The port town of Hargeon…_

"Wow this brings back the memories! This is the town where I met Natsu and Happy!", Lucy explained as we strode into Hargeon.

"Brings back memories? It wasn't that long ago.", Natsu stated with a confused look on his face. I stifled a smile as Happy insulted Lucy and they began to argue. They certainly were a close-knit group.

Lucy controlled herself and strode off toward the harbor with a smile, "Come on! Let's go find us a boat that will talk us to Galuna Island!"

I felt my face turn green at the mention of transportation. It took all I had in me not to hurl all over the sidewalk.

"BOAT?! Don't be crazy, we're swimming there!", Natsu protested and I rolled my eyes. I hated transportation, but even I knew we couldn't swim to the island.

"I'd suggest flying, but Stella still needs to work on her skills and Happy can't carry two people all that way.", I grimaced once more at the thought of a _b-b-boat._

"Well that's too bad then, because a boat is our only option.", Lucy declared and moved onto the dock to flag down someone to take us to the island.

"Galuna Island? Yeah right, we ain't going near that place!", one of the fisherman we talked to insisted.

"Forget it, we don't want to even hear that name!", the other stated emphatically.

"Sailors around here don't want to even talk about that place. It's cursed and is nothing but bad news.", a third concurred with his fellow fishermen.

"Alright, I've had enough of this! Time for me to try Erza's favorite approach!", I cracked my knuckles and began to glare menacingly at the now quivering fishermen when I heard Natsu and Lucy screech. I turned to see Gray standing behind them.

"Gotcha!", Gray grinned as Natsu and Lucy sprung away.

"Gray!"

"What are you doing here, popsicle pants?!"

"Gramps sent me to bring you guys back. Who knows if you go back now, you might not get kicked out.", Gray grinned again, taunting Natsu. I sighed, boys were so oblivious, Gray hadn't even noticed I was here. I crept closer to him as he and Natsu began to argue. Gray summoned some ice and Natsu his flames.

"Wait, you guys are wizards?!", the man cried out. "Are you going to try to break the islands curse?"

"Going to try to anyway.", Lucy smile weakly. That's when I struck. I hardened my fist to ice and before Gray could even fully turn, I punched him hard. He fell over like a bowling pin, unconscious as a dead body.

"It's settled then. Natsu, grab Gray. We'll take this boat.", I unfroze my fist and watched as Natsu grumbled and picked Gray up like a sack of potatoes.

"We're going to take Gray?", Lucy questioned as we began stepping onto the boat.

"If we let him go back, then they'll send Erza and he'll also report that I'm with you. I don't fancy having to talk Erza down from murder.", I explained, then all my talking was done as I stepped into the boat. I slumped half over the side as Stella murmured comforting words and stroked my hair. As Natsu and Lucy stepped onboard, I summoned just enough magic to freeze Gray's arms to his chest. Afterwards, we set sail for Galuna Island.

We were halfway there and I was absolutely miserable. "I get that this is a little late to say but, I'm scared.", Lucy whimpered.

"You say that after you tie me up?!", Gray fumed.

"Technically, I froze you.", I added, then hurled into the ocean.

"Very helpful, Ice Princess!", Gray snarled at me. I growled and then yanked him up.

"If you push me Gray, I will hurl you out of this boat and let you float back to Magnolia.", I growled at him. "Am I clear?"

"Whatever. On a different note, why are you taking us to the island?", Gray changed topics quickly and I turned to hear the fisherman's answer.

"My name is Bobo. I used to live on that cursed island. I fled it. You will be cursed once you step on it, as are all who go to that island. Can you really lift this curse? This demon's curse...", Bobo flung his cloak aside and Lucy and Gray gasped. I narrowed my eyes at the sight of his arm, which had been transfigured into a demonic arm.

"Your arm!", Gray gasped and his eyes were wide.

"Curse, you don't mean…", Lucy's voice trailed off.

Bobo draped his cloak back over his arm and turned to the wheel once more. "There it is…", he muttered. "Galuna Island." We all stared straight at the island and Lucy squinted.

"What is that? The mountaintop is glowing…". She stared at the glowing peak, which I could barely see from my position slung over the edge. Then Lucy screeched. "Where did he go?"

"He just disappeared!", Gray exclaimed and I saw that Bobo had disappeared from the prow of the boat. Then a rumble followed.

"What was that?", Lucy wondered aloud.

"G-guys!", Gray went pale and we turned to see a giant wave preparing to crest behind us. "Hold on!", he yelled as the wave began to crest. I lunged for Stella who threw herself at me. I clutched her close to me as we disappeared into the sea. I struggled to reach the surface while clinging to Stella and my pack but with the waves I couldn't reach the surface and a current yanked Stella away from me. I made to scream but then water flooded my mouth. After what seemed like an eternity, my vision went black.

"Aquila, Aquila! Wake up, wake up!", I heard a persistent voice call to me and I struggled to force my eyes to open. I opened my eyes to glaring sunlight and palm trees, then turned to my left and saw Stella frantically shaking my arm.

"Oh thank god!", I gasped and pulled Stella into a hug. "Are you alright, Stella? Are you hurt?", I asked once I released her.

"No, I'm fine, but Happy is stuck in the sand.", Stella frowned at the thought of the other cat stuck. I gave a small smile then eased into a standing position. I could see we had washed up on Galuna Island. I shifted and was pleasantly surprised to discover that my pack had not come loose from my back. I surveyed the area and saw that Natsu and Gray were next to each other on the beach, the ice having melted when I had gone unconscious and Happy stuck face first in the sand. I could see that Lucy was also standing and had made her way down to the boys.

"Natsu wake up!", Lucy had freed Happy and was trying to shake my fellow dragon slayer back into consciousness. I made my way over to Gray and turned him over and began to shake him.

"Huh?! Where are we?!", Gray awoke with a start, and began to spit out questions.

"We're on Galuna Island, a giant wave washed us ahore.", Lucy answered as Natsu woke up.

"Awesome! So we made it!", Natsu roared as Gray groaned.

"So once again, we narrowly lucked out.", he stated as I helped him stand. We all gathered our washed up supplies and regrouped.

"What was up with that guy anyway? He mentioned something about a demon's curse…" Lucy pondered aloud.

"Who cares? Let's go exploring!" Natsu flamed his excitement and I smacked him across the back of the head.

"You'll care if we turn into demons in the next five minutes! We came to fix the islands curse and if that is the curse we need to know about it!", I yelled at the now cowering Natsu and Happy.

"According to the flyer you read to me Aquila, there should be a village on this island and the chief posted the job.", Stella chirped and I smiled.

"Good idea, we should head out then-",

"Wait.", Gray's command seemed to echo.

"You can't take us back, the boat is destroyed.", Natsu complained.

"No, I'm coming with you. I can't let you guys beat me to the second floor.", Gray let the sass leak into his tone and I rolled my eyes, he just couldn't seem to notice that I was there. Not that it you know, irritated me or anything.

"First, ice princess, I beat you all to the second floor a long time ago, and second of all, were you just going to wander around while we did all the work? Send up smoke signals perhaps, get a tan? Idiot.", I scolded him but I hid a smile. There was the Gray that I knew, the competitive one.

"Tch, I was talking to them Ice princess.", Gray rolled his eyes then grinned like a fool. "Let's go!"

"Aye!"

"Yeah!"

I grinned at Natsu and Lucy's cheers. "Let's get moving then." We began our trek through the woods then moving in the direction Stella said the village was in. The village finally came into view after several hours, the sky was dark and the stars had come out.

A sign was posted on the front gate that stated keep out. "What does that even mean? Why was that sign posted?", Gray frowned at the warning posted on the gate.

Lucy decided to ignore the sign however, and called out, "Excuse me, we're the wizards from Fairy Tail, here to answer your job request, please open the gates!"

Two guards stood over the edge and called down to us, "Nobody notified us about the job being accepted!"

Gray improvised and shouted back up, "Probably a mix-up with the paperwork."

The guards remained suspicious and shouted back, "Show us your emblems!"

Lucy held her right hand up with its back to them, revealing her pink emblem. Natsu turned and revealed his red emblem on his right shoulder. Gray pulled his shirt up to reveal his dark blue on his chest. I leaned back to reveal my cobalt emblem underneath my right breast.

"It's them! They really came!", the guards yelled back to the village and began to raise the gates.

"It looks like we're going into a giant monster's mouth.", Happy commented and Stella looked rather alarmed.

"Aquila, are we going into a monster? I don't want to go into a monster!", Stella stated nervously, flying up and landing on my head.

"No Stella, Happy just said it looks like one, I promise, we're not going into a monster.", I pat the ginger cat's fur and shot a glare at Happy, who dove behind Natsu. We entered the village and found all the inhabitants wore cloaks and head scarves, concealing all but their eyes.

"I am Moka, the chief of this island village. Let's get down to business. Please look at what the curse has done. Everyone!", the chief barked out the command and everyone dropped their cloaks and masks.

Every person in that village had at least one limb turned demonic. "Just like the man on the boat.", Gray muttered.

"This is what I wanted you to see. Everything on this island is affected by this curse, even dogs and birds.", the chief explained.

"I don't mean to cause doubt on your story, but are you sure it's a curse? Couldn't it be a contagious disease?", Gray asked.

"We've consulted dozens of doctors, and they all say no such disease exists. Plus the moon's magic has to do with us taking these forms.", the chief insisted earnestly. I was skeptical, no magic I knew of could do this.

"The moon's magic?", Lucy sounded confused and the chief deigned to explain to her and the rest of us.

"The island has absorbed moonlight since ancient times. It made the entire island shine beautifully, like the moon. However, some years ago, the moon's light suddenly turned purple."

"Purple moon light?", Natsu clarified.

"Look the moon's coming out!", Happy cried out. As the moon poked out from behind the clouds, indeed it was purple. Something wasn't right here, I had seen the moon multiple nights while we were on our way back from Clover. Why would it be white and pure out there but purple here?

"It's true the moon is purple!", Lucy cried out.

"This just got creepy.", Gray said.

"It's a curse. This is the moon's magic.", Moka said but then all around us people suddenly began to fall to their knees in pain.

"Wh-what?!", Lucy shrieked and we all began to back up, what was going on here? And if it was a curse, of which I wasn't convinced, why wasn't it affecting us?

"What's going on?", Gray yelled.

"What the hell?", Natsu stammered out. The townspeople were turning into demons in front of our very eyes.

"I apologize for the shock.", Moka was solemn faced as we stared at the villagers in horror.

"What in the world is with you guys?", Gray murmured.

"You poor people…", Lucy trailed off.

"You're so… You're so COOL! You're so lucky, I want some horns and spike too!", Natsu hollered. The villagers and the rest of our group stared at Natsu in shock. He was a moron, an absolute moron.

The villagers murmured in shock at finding someone who wasn't horrified by their condition. "Get it together! They don't want to be like this Nastu!", Lucy scolded him.

I swung a fist and knocked Natsu over. "My apologies, he has no filter. We need to start working on a solution.", I apologized to the villagers as Gray sniggered at Natsu's predicament. Then he was joining him in the dirt.

"Anyway, as you can see, we take the form of demons whenever the purple moon comes out. If this isn't a curse, what else is?! Come morning, we're all back to normal. However there are some that lose their minds and never change back. We've since made it a rule… to kill those who transform into mindless monsters. ", Moka bowed his head in hopelessness.

"WHAT?! Even though, there is a chance that they might change back?!", Natsu yelled.

"We have to, or they will kill us all! We've tried to capture them, but they just break free. As a result… I had to kill my own son.", Moka whispered, as a tear slipped down his cheek. At the dreaded news, that he killed his own son, I felt my stomach turn. I turned away for a moment and bit down on the feelings rising down. Now was not the time for me to start picking at the tangled mess that was my past.

Moka continued, "My son, whose mind became that of a demon." His hand dropped, revealing a picture of, the man from the boat?!

Lucy opened her mouth to proclaim that we had seen that man, when Gray shushed her. "I figured out why that man vanished. It's because he can't rest in peace.", Gray murmured, and I felt my doubt rise. I had been all over Fiore on requests, and I had never heard of ghosts except in horror stories. There had to be a more clear cut explanation on why we had seen a supposedly dead man.

"Please, save this island. It's only a matter of time until we all lose our minds and become demons.", Moka bowed in pleading before us and Natsu growled.

"We won't let that happen! We'll figure something out! There's only one way to lift our curse, you must destroy the moon." Moka proclaimed. We could only stare at what they had determined to be the answer to their curse.

After that proclamation, they realized we had walked all day to get to the village and ushered us to a room for us to spend the night in.

"You know, that moon keeps getting creepier the more at look at it.", Happy mused as he and Stella peered out the window.

"Happy, hurry and shut the window. You heard the village chief, we'll wind up demons too if we're exposed to the moonlight for too long.", Lucy chided Happy.

"Man, talk about a tall order.", Natsu moaned form a chair.

"ASking us to the destroy the moon is a bit much…", Gray agreed, though I'm sure it was unintentional, with Natsu.

"I'm not sure what's going on here to be frank. I've never heard of a curse like this. We need to investigate further.", I leaned against the door frame.

"I'm not sure that there is any wizard who could do it, if that's even what we're supposed to be doing.", Lucy voiced from her spot by the scavenged luggage.

"He hired us to destroy the moon, so we've got to do it, it would hurt Fairy Tail's reputation if we backed out on a job without finishing it.", Natsu argued and I shook my head.

"Natsu, we need more information, it isn't as simple as bash something to pieces. You guys wanted to learn about being S-class, well this is it ladies and gentleman, often there's too many questions, not enough answers, and you need to be able to think on the spot.", I lectured only to discover I had been completely ignored, and they had proceeded to argue with Natsu about how he could not destroy the moon. Then before I could interject, Gray's short smacked into my face.

"Well, after walking all day, after being shipwrecked, I'm beat man.", Gray said as he peeled out of his clothes.

"Watch it stripper!", I snapped as my eyebrow twitched in anger at his carelessness.

"Well, we can explore tomorrow! Now for sleep!", Natsu cheered as he dived on top of the beds provided for us.

"Aye sir!", Happy dove with him.

"We can do our thinking tomorrow.", Gray sighed as he hit his mattress.

"Yeah, I'm tired, too. Let's get some sleep." Lucy settled into the bed in between the boys and I smiled as I blew out the lanterns they used to light the room.

"Come on Stella, into bed.", I whispered as I laid down and my cat snuggled into my arms. I laid upon my pillow as the comforting rhythm of Natsu and Gray's snores began, joined by Stella's quiet purring. As I drifted of I thought about the sadness on Moka's face at the thought of killing his son and I wondered,

 _Did Isole, ever feel that way about what she tried to do to me?_

 **A/N: Hey guys, I hope you enjoyed the latest chapter! Leave me a review letting me know what you think about everything that's going on so far! Also just to clarify any confusion, Isole is Aquila's dragon parent. I hope to have the next chapter up soon!**


	8. Chapter 8

"It's too early…", Natsu moaned as we prepared to leave the village. I rolled my eyes as the boys practically fell over themselves from exhaustion, which made no sense as they had slept soundly the previous night.

"Alright, let's get this party started! OPEN, gate of the clock, Horologium!", Lucy used her gate key to call out one of her spirits, a strange looking one, that looked like a walking and talking grandfather clock. I sighed as Lucy climbed inside, and we left to search the island for the cause of the curse.

"Are we really going to find another way to break the curse besides destroying the moon?", Natsu asked as we walked.

"We have to. Besides, we can't really destroy it. People wouldn't be able to go moon-viewing anymore.", Gray replied.

'You're right! The there'd be no more limited-time-only Fairy Tail moon-viewing steaks.", Natsu exclaimed. I snickered as Happy joined in with Natsu, leading to Lucy scolding them both, albeit through Horologium.

"Walk on your own." , Natsu said to Lucy as she lagged behind us, inside of Horologium.

"Uhm, are you sure you're using your celestial spirits properly?", Gray asked with a healthy dash if skepticism.

"W-we're dealing a curse here. It's scary and I don't want to risk anything happening to me!", Lucy whimpered, again Horologium was speaking for her.

"S-class quests rock! I'm all fired up now!", Natsu cheered.

"They don't all rock, and none of you better get hurt or die. I'm going to be in enough trouble as it is with Master's policy and all.", I said with annoyance as Stella and I dropped back to walk with Lucy.

"What policy?, she says quizzically.", Horologium stated.

"Well, a few years ago, Li- A girl died on an S-class mission. She wasn't an S-class wizard, but her older sister had taken her with on a quest. It was allowed back then. After she died, Master forbid anyone who wasn't an S-class wizard to go on S-class missions, even if they were accompanied by an S-class. So to be quite honest, you all aren't going to be in as much trouble as you would've been if I hadn't come, however, I will be in a huge amount of trouble. So appreciate me kiddies!", I yelled the final part of my statement up at Natsu and Gray. Who turned to retort as a thundering pounding began to echo through the forest.

"What's that?", Natsu said, then he gasped as he looked behind Lucy and I. I turned as gasped as a giant rat towered above us.

"Beat it up you guys! She says." Horologium spoke, as the rat chittered above us.

"Ice Make… Shield!", Gray yelled as he crafted a shield meant to divert the gas it spat at us. It wasn't poisonous, thank goodness, but as whiff of it hit my sensitive slayer nose, Natsu and I keeled over.

"Stinky!", Happy, Stella, and \ Lucy screamed as Horologium disappeared, presumably back to the spirit world. The rat chittered once again.

"Natsu! Aquila! Quit lying around!", Gray yelled as he stared at the approaching rat.

"It's their sense of smell. It's really powerful, so that smell…", Stella yelled, her voice slightly muffled by her paws over her mouth.

"Run!", Lucy screamed as the rat began to bear down on us once more.

"Ice Make; Floor!", Gray cast an icy covering over the ground, causing the rat to slip and fall.

"Why didn't you do that first?", Natsu jeered at Gray

"Quit complaining!", Gray yelled back.

"Look, there's some sort of building! Let's get inside while we can.", Lucy called out. It was temple looking building, with the symbol of the moon on the front.

"Let's beat it up while we can!", Natsu and Gray began to whale on the unconscious rodent.

"Enough! It's down for now, and we should explore the temple while we can, before anything that you all cannot handle comes along.", I stated.

"What do you mean WE can't handle?!", Natsu flamed furiously.

I shrugged, "exactly what I said, you all are very strong but you're not quite qualified for S-class yet, so for now, stealth is our best attribute." Natsu opened his mouth to protest once more but I fixed him with an icy glare. "Are you arguing with me, Natsu?"

"No! No ma'am!", Natsu chirped, ending the argument. We approached the temple and entered it.

"Whoa, this place is huge!", Lucy exclaimed as we entered the temple.

"It's all busted up!", Natsu stated as he examined some of the crumbling columns.

"Just how old is this place?", Gray wondered aloud as we examined some carvings along the walls.

"What are those?", Natsu pointed to the top of the carvings, where several crescent moons were carved into the walls.

"They're moons. This place as originally called the Island of the Moon.", Gray explained.

"A moon island, a moon curse, moon emblems…", Lucy pondered aloud.

"Something's not right here. These ruins have to be connected to the islanders problems. There are just just too many coincidences.", I agreed with Lucy's unspoken train of thought.

"Man, this place is falling to pieces. Is the floor even safe for us to stand on?", Natsu stated and then being an idiot as usual, proceeds to start stamping on the floor.

"Stop that!", Lucy scolded him.

No sooner had the statement come out of her mouth that the floor cracked open, and we all began to tumble into the darkness.

"Natsu you idiot!", Gray yelled as we fell. I maneuvered myself upright then began to form my ice slide. I grabbed Stella with one hand, and once she was safely on the slide next to me, I yanked Lucy out of the air, and onto the slide with me. As we slide safely to the ground the boys hit the ground with a boom.

"Hey, you guys okay?!", Natsu yelled after he had dug himself out from under the rubble.

"YES! No thanks to you, this is your fault!", Lucy yelled.

'Why don't you ever think about the consequences?!", Gray yelled as well.

"That was incredibly reckless Natsu. Someone could have been hurt. I'm glad everyone is okay though.", I added.

As we regained our bearings, we gaxed up at the small hole in the ceiling. "Happy can you and Stella fly us all up?", Lucy asked the blue cat.

"Nope. I can't carry everyone, and Stella's too little to carry more than one person.", Happy said with a shake of his head. Stella gazed at the ground with a pout and I leaned down to pet her head.

"Don't worry, Stella. You'll be able to carry multiple people someday.", Is aid with a smile. She gave me a small smile, and I stood back up to rejoin the conversation.

'Since we're here, we should explore!", Natsu chanted as he ran off down the hall.

"Hey quit running around!", Gray yelled. We began to follow him, and he froze as we rounded a corner.

"Natsu?", Lucy asked when she say him frozen.

"Now what?", Gray grumbled as we all came to a stop.

"What is that?", Natsu managed to get out. As we came out of the tunnel we all stared at the monstrosity before us.

"W-what the?", Gray stammered out. "Deliora?!", Gray began to walk forward, staring in horror at the iced statue of some monster in front of us. "This can't be! What is Deliora doing here?! It's impossible, he can't be here!", Gray yelled, seemingly forgetting that we were still here.

"Gray you know what this thing is?", I asked, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder.

"It's… it's...!", Gray was shaking so hard, it seemed like he was about to fall apart.

I moved in front of Gray and placed my hands on his shoulders. "Gray, calm down.", I said as he once again stared up the creature.

"Tell us , what is this thing?", Lucy asked.

"It's Deliora, the demon of destruction…. He looks exactly the same as then… What's going on? Why is he here?!", Gray growled, he seemed unable to tear his gaze from the demon encased in ice.

Lucy turned and my ears picked up footsteps approaching. "Hide!", she whispered and we all moved behind a large boulder.

"This is where the voices were coming from.", A nasal voice spoke. "Toby, have you been soaking in the moon drip? You have ears.", the same voice said, as a low growl came from the other person, the one that had dog ears and a dog collar on. The other guys had blue hair that stuck up like a lightning bolt.

"No! These are decorations, get it through your head!", the dog-man, Toby exploded at the other.

"I was only teasing you, idiot.", the blue-haired man said.

"You're so mean.", Toby replied.

"Moon drip? Could that be the curse?", Lucy muttered, as I pondered that phrase. I had no idea what it was, but it didn't sound good. Footsteps once again came from down the tunnel, and a pink-haired girl emerged from the tunnel.

"Yuka, Toby, I have horrible news!", the pinkette said.

"Sherry." Yuka, acknowledged her with a nod, and Toby with a wave.

"Some beat up Angelica.", Sherry said, with her hands clasped to her chest.

"It's just a stupid rat, you don't need to give it a name!", Toby howled at her.

"She is not a rat. Angelica is a hunter, one that races through the darkness… and love!", She retorted. I was beginning to think we were dealing with some real nutters here.

"Talk about a serious weirdo, especially with that last thing she said.", Lucy muttered, agreeing with my unspoken thoughts.

"They're not from the island. They smell different.", Natsu said, and I nodded,

"They smell, fresh almost, as if they come from the north." I added.

"They don't seem to be cursed either." Happy stated.

"Do they maybe have some sort of protection?", Stella mused aloud.

"Intruders huh?", Yuka stated.

"And with the moonlight so close tonight. How sad. Let us get rid of the intruders before the Cold Emperor finds out about this. Yes, before the moon shows itself…Now that they've seen Deliora, they cannot be allowed to live. They must enter eternal sleep.", Sherry said, the boys agreeing with her.

 _Who is this Cold emperor? And what does he want with a demon?_ I thought to myself, as Happy and Stella tossed some pebbles down the hall, causing a noise and they left in a hurry.

"Good work you two!", Lucy told the cats as they set themselves down.

"Aye!", Happy agreed.

"We should've caught them and interrogated them." Natsu said as Lucy shook her head.

"Not yet. Let's investigate a little more first.", Lucy stated. I nodded with approval at her wisdom. She would make a fine S-class wizard, when her magic skill caught up with her mind.

"This is getting complicated.", Natsu groaned.

'I wonder who the cold emperor is…", Happy wondered aloud.

"Why did they bring Deliora here?! How did they find where he was sealed anyways?!", Gray spoke with pain in his voice.

"Where he was sealed?", Lucy queried.

"This thing was sealed in an iceberg in a northern continent. It's an immortal demon that ravaged the Isvan region ten years ago.,, Master Ur, the one who taught me magic, risked her life to seal it away! I don't know what is has to do with the island's curse, but it doesn't belong here! Cold Emperor… who are you?! There'll be hell to pay if you try to tarnish Ur's name!", Gray was shaking and his fists were clenched. There was a lot that he wasn't telling us. But everyone has secrets and Gray was entitled to his. As we stared up at the demon frozen in ice, I wondered what was the end game here, what was the goal?

 **A/N: I'M BACK! And call it my new school year resolution, but this story will get updated EVERY Sunday, though I will need to make the chapters just a tad shorter. But the point is I will be updating weekly. I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter and don't forget to review!**


	9. Chapter 9

_Previously…_

 _There was a lot that he wasn't telling us. But everyone has secrets and Gray was entitled to his. As we stared up at the demon frozen in ice, I wondered what was the end game here, what was the goal?_

"Deliora…", Gray growled as he stared up at the demon.

"Are you sure that this is the demon your master sealed away?", Natsu asked with a certain hardness in his voice. I had to admit, he question seemed rather stupid, Gray wasn't one for dramatization, and any fool could see this had him shaken.

"There's no doubt about it.", Gray muttered.

"I wonder why it was transported all the way from the northern continent to Galuna Island…", Happy murmured.

"Maybe they wanted it to be in Fiore?", Stella squeaked out as she stared at the statue above us.

"You don't think the demon had something to do with this island's curse, do you?", Lucy pondered aloud.

"I wouldn't be surprised if it did. It may be enclosed in ice, but that thing is still alive.", Gray declared, his gaze never leaving the ice.

"Sweet! Give me a go at it, I ain't afraid of no stupid demon!", Natsu crowed as he began to wind up a punch.

"Natsu, not even I could best a demon. Not even Erza is prepared to best a demon. I suggest you use your brain, before it atrophies away, like any muscle that isn't used.", I snapped at the foolish fire dragon slayer. We already had enemies in those three we saw earlier. We did not need another tromping around the island.

"Ah, come on, a little fire ought to do the trick!", Natsu whined. Gray's eyes flared and he sent a vicious right hook straight at Natsu's face, knocking him over.

As Lucy and Happy murmured, Stella curled behind my leg, cuddling tight to me.  
"I'm scared. Gray is scaring me. What's wrong with him?", she whimpered. I knelt beside her and picked her up, cuddling her into my chest. She was right, something must be wrong for Gray to react so strongly, and it all had to do with that ice.

"Hey, what's the deal?! What's you hit me for Gray?", Natsu yelled as he cradled his sore cheek.

"I don't want you and your flames anywhere near it! And that goes double for you!", Gray said, whirling on me for his last sentence. "Keep yourself and your ice-chomping fangs away!", he hollered at me. I felt my face go blank and I gently lowered Stella to the ground. I stood and rose to stand equal to Gray.

"You aren't going to shout at me.", I whispered with deadly seriousness. "I don't make a habit of putting strange ice in my mouth, and I most certainly am not going to try to take that thing on. You're obviously not telling us something, which is fine you have a right to privacy. But so help me Gray, if you shout at me again, or don't get a grip and remember who the enemy is, you aren't going to like what happens next.", I stated. He was frozen in shock, seeming unable to believe that I had said that to him, when I stepped forward and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"You obviously aren't okay. And that's fine, but we're your friends Gray. I'm your friend. Don't take your anger out on the people who care about you." I squeezed his shoulder gently, then released him and took a step back. Gray seemed to calm a bit, then he opened his mouth to speak.

"Many years ago, My master, Ur, cast a spell called Iced Shell on this demon, enclosing in a form of ice that can't be melted. It's so strong, not even the most powerful flame spells have an effect on it. I have no idea, what an ice dragon slayer could do to it. If they knew that the ice couldn't be melted, then why did they bring it here?", Gray stated, finally seeming to calm.

"Maybe they didn't know. Maybe they brought it here to try to melt it somehow. ", Lucy theorized.

"Yeah, but why would they do that?!", Gray was seeming to grow frustrated once again, and once again I stepped forward to place my hand on his shoulder. Sometimes a comforting touch was all that was needed, but he brushed me off, leaving me feeling stung.

"I just don't get it, who would being Deliora here, and more importantly, why?!", Gray began to get even more agitated.

"We need answers. Let's go find those guys.", Natsu declared, forking a thumb at the exit that the three took.

"Yeah, okay.", Lucy agreed.

Before I could voice my agreement, Gray cut me off.

"No. We're going to stay here and wait."

"But why? Is something supposed to happen?", Stella raised her question timidly.

"For the moon to come out.", Gray responded, without taking his eyes off of the demon.

"THE MOON?! But it's the middle of the afternoon! Forget that, I'd rather not hang out here all day, I'll die of boredom.", Natsu began to complain and I ignored him in favor of a question.

"Gray, that term, moon drip, you're on to something aren't you?", I asked him, with a calculating look at the ice. We were missing something here, and I was willing to trust Gray's judgement on this one.

"I have a feeling that the curse on this island and Deliora are somehow connected to it.", Gray affirmed.

"I guess waiting until night is the only way we're going to find out what's going on.", ucy stated.

"I'M NOT WAITING! WE'VE GOT WORK TO DO!", Natsu roared as he began to throw a little tantrum. I solved that problem with a quick thump on the head, then he was snoring like a baby.

"Now that that's settled, we had better settle in for a long wait.", I said, then settled against a rock in which I had a good view of both our entry tunnel, the exit tunnel, and Gray, sitting in front of Deliora.

I was concerned for him, he never had spoken about his past when he'd joined Fairy Tail, though that didn't really mean much, Erza had never told where she was from, nor Cana, nor had I ever revealed my past other than the fact I had been raised by Isole, the ice dragon. But there was always something different about the way he carried himself. He never got close, never got attached. He'd barely made any friends until Natsu had arrived and drawn him out from his shell.

Hell, Cana and I were the only two who had been in Fairy Tail longer than Gray, and despite the fact that we were both from the North, he never said anything to me about the common area in which we grew up, though I suppose an ice cave with a dragon was much more different than a village.

I was broken out of my reverie when Lucy pulled out a gate key, and chanted, "Open, Gate of the harp constellation; Lyra!", causing a girl dressed in blue and carrying a harp to appear. She and Lucy exchanged pleasantries, then Lucy told to the girl to play what she wanted.

I leaned my head back against the rock and shut my eyes as she began to play her harp and sing. I felt my eyes begin to wet beneath my lids as her words dredged up painful memories.

" _Isole, Isole!", I chanted as I had raced into her cavern,a thick smattering of ice covering my body, protecting me. "Look what I made!", I cheered, clambering onto my dragons frigid, crystalline scales._

" _What is it now snowflake?", I heard Isole grumble good naturedly as she opened one brilliant, blue eye._

" _I made a sculpture, like what you make!", I ran out from the slightly warmer cave into the snowy mountainside that was our home._

" _Hm, your technique is off.", the dragoness critiqued as she circled my statue of a caribou. I frowned, not expecting her criticism._

" _However, your attention to detail is impeccable, you have great talent as an ice sculptor, and as a slayer. You will do well… perhaps…", The dragoness, turned a critical eye over me as she returned to the interior of the cave. I had beamed, thinking it a compliment. Little had I known, Isole's plans for me had never included such a future._

I opened my eyes to find a single tear slipping down my cheek. _None of that,_ I told myself. The past was dead. I'd be best to let it lie.

"Gray, what's wrong?", Lucy's question broke me out of my thoughts.

"Nothing! I'm fine.", Gray replied, though I could hear the tremble in his voice. I sat up, and wiped any sign of tears from my face.

"Did her song make you sad, Gray?", I heard Happy ask.

"Aquila.", I looked down at my lap to see Stella staring at me. "Are you okay, is Happy right? Did Lyra's song make you sad like it made Gray sad?", Stella frowned as she looked up at me. I smiled at my concerned charge and ruffled her hair.

"Don't worry about me, Stella. I'm just fine.", I whispered as Gray declared that we needed to be quiet. Silence reigned as we waited for the moon to come up.

I kept watch as the other four drifted off, though Gray frowned even in his sleep. I shot to my feet when after a few hours, the cavern began to rumble.

"What's that strange noise?", Lucy murmured as she awoke.

"HUH? Is it night yet?", Natsu yelled as he jumped up, already alert. Gray peered up from his crouch, as a magic circle appeared over Deliora.

"It's a beam of light shining down from the ceiling!", Lucy yelled.

"But why is it purple? It must be moonlight!", Gray declared as we watched the light rain down upon the frozen monster.

"It's shining down on Deliora!", Gray declared as we watched the ice begin to glow purple.

"I don't think that's a coincidence!", Natsu yelled.

"Come on you two, no time to dawdle! It's move it or lose, and we need to know where that light is coming from, I have a feeling it lies at the root of our problems!", I yelled at Gray and Natsu, before I took off for the exit tunnel those three we had seen earlier went through.

We sprinted up the stairs, which led us back to the antechamber we were in originally. On the floor glowed another magic circle, above which there was another.

"Why would someone cast a magic circle inside this temple?", Gray asked as we watched the moonlight seep through, down onto Deliora.

"Why indeed…", I muttered. Something wasn't adding up here. What were we missing?

"Let's find out!", Natsu roared, as he took off for the top of the temple, with the rest of us close behind.

As we ascended a staircase, we came out on top of the temple behind some rubble, which provided decent cover, as we discovered some people dressed in ceremonial clothes, chanting around what appeared to be a focused moon ray.

"What are they doing?", Natsu whispered.

"The moon…", Gray muttered, as we saw a series of magic circles that focused and guided the moonlight.

"It looks like those robed freaks are chanting some spell to collect the moonlight.", Natsu deduced.

"And shine it on Deliora, but what for?", Lucy added.

"It's a spell called the moon drip.", Lyra whispered, giving us all a shock. I had though Lucy had returned her to the celestial world.

"What are you still doing here?!", Lucy whispered anxiously.

"They're using the moon drip spell to melt the ice surrounding that demon underground so they can resurrect it.", Lyra explained in a soft voice.

"They CAN'T! The ice used in an iced shell can't be melted!", Gray exclaimed.

"I hate to say it, but that's not entirely true. While the iced shell is strong, it can be melted using moon drip, or it could be eaten away, but I think your friend is the only one capable of that. Moon energy can break any magical spell.", Lyra finished, her voice trailing off.

"That's bad.", Stella whimpered as she clung to my side. I patted her gently as Gray proceeded to become more and more agitated.

"Those idiots! They've never witnessed the wrath of Deliora!", Gray exclaimed. I cast him a worried look as Lyra explained her theory that the islanders' curse was actually side effects from the moon drip.

"I'll make them pay!", Natsu growled, preparing to leap over the rubble, when Lucy knocked him out with a well placed elbow. I nodded in approval of her technique, with the ability to shut Natsu up, this girl was going places.

"Hold up, there's someone coming this way.", Lucy murmured.

An ironclad figure stepped closer to the chanters, accompanied by those three that we had seen earlier.

As the three began to quiet complain amongst themselves, I picked up on it with my dragon-aided hearing. I listened to the girl relay the news to Cold Emperor that Deliora was to be released by tonight or tomorrow. I turned to Gray to relay it when I saw his face. He looked stunned as if he couldn't believe what he was seeing.

I withheld a gasp as he ordered the villagers to be destroyed, believing them to be the intruders. I swallowed back a furious scream, as all three agreed to slaughter the village. Not if I had my way.

"That voice… no, it can't be…", Gray stammered out. I turned to Gray and grasped him by the shoulders.

"Gray, what do you know? I let you have your secrets before because I respected your privacy, but that time has passed. Now I need to kn-", I was cut off by Natsu standing up on the rubble and yelling to get their attention.

"I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF THIS SNEAKING AROUND BUSINESS! IT'S US YOU'RE AFTER, WE'RE THE INTRUDERS, NOT THE VILLAGERS!", Natsu let out a roar of flame, drawing all eyes to us.

"Stay here.", I whispered to Stella, who nodded, and crouched behind the rubble out of sight.

"I know that mark! They're from Fairy Tail!", Sherry called out.

"Interesting. The villagers must have gone to the magical guilds for help.", The one with eyebrows, Yuka, stated.

"It makes no difference, leave them to me. Go destroy the village.", the Cold emperor stated cooly.

"WHAT?!", Natsu roared.

"Anyone who stands in my way, directly or indirectly is my enemy!", The cold emperor stated.

"Stop this ceremony, RIGHT NOW!", Gray thundered as he and Natsu rushed him. He created a moving wall on ice, that moved towards the four, until the Cold Emperor created his own wall of ice pushing it back, causing both to shatter.

"Lyon! How could you?! Do you have idea what you're doing?!", Gray growled as he was pushed back.

"You know him?!", I cried out. I was ignored as Lyon responded.

"Oh, Gray. It's been quite a while, hasn't it?", the smug bastard stated.

"Why would you try to revive Deliora?!", Gray demanded.

"To think that you're one of the wizards called to this island to help those poor villagers. Did you come knowing you would find me?Or is this just mere coincidence? Not that it makes any difference to me.", Lyon asked.

'An acquaintance of yours cold emperor?", Yuka asked in a monotone, while Toby whined curiously.

"Do as you were ordered. I can handle the intruders on my own.", Lyon declared, as the three agreed then vanished.

"Come back here!", Natsu thundered as he raced towards where they had been.

Gray suddenly looked panicked. "Wait Natsu, don't go near him!", Gray yelled as Natsu froze and waves of icy magic began to crystallize around him, forming an icy ball around Natsu.

"Happy, get Lucy out of here! Stella, you go with them!", Gray ordered.

"Aye!", Happy agreed, taking Lucy into the air, with Stella following close behind.

I growled. No one but myself was allowed to give orders to MY cat. I would settle with Gray later, for now, there was Natsu and this Lyon to deal with.

"You distracted me long enough for the girl and the cat to escape. Though why this one remained, I have no idea. I doubt she can do much.", Lyon dismissed me with a wave of his hand. _Oh, hell no._

"Don't judge a book by its cover, Lyon. This girl can kick your ass 5 ways from Sunday and still have enough time to stop your little minions.", I growled smacking my ice-covered fists together. "SO, get ready to have the-"

"NO!", Gray yelled, cutting me off.

"No? Did you honestly just tell me no? Gray Fullbuster, once I've kicked his ass, you are next on my shit list and it isn't going to be pretty!", I growled.

"He's mine. Help Natsu, his magic can't burn through that ice.", Gray declared, promptly sending him tumbling down the mountain.

"The hell, Gray?!", I roared indignantly as I raced down the mountain after Natsu. He was such and idiot, and so dead after I freed Natsu from the ice.

I raced after him, following the path of destruction that Natsu's rolling form had caused. I found him upside down on the ground, struggling to get upright. I rolled my eyes at his pitiful attempts to right himself.

"Yeah, yeah. Hold still ash-for-brains.", I grumbled as I yanked him out of the hole he had landed in.

"Gray! YOU ARE SO DEAD WHEN I GET UP THERE!", Natsu roared. I smacked him on the back of the head, and he turned a pout on me.

"What was that for?!", He yelled.

"For being an idiot, you don't charge an enemy head-on until you know what you're up against. Now you're stuck in a ball of ice that I'm going to have to eat so you can move freely again, when I should be helping Gray kick that ice wizard's ass! So sit down,, shut up, and let me get you out of the ice so we can go help Gray and Lucy!", I growled, a few spikes of ice jutting up around me as my fury grew.

"AYE!", Natsu agreed, trying to cool my temper. With a sigh I bent down and began to take bites out of the ice.

"Ugh, this ice tastes nasty!", I grumbled.

"Well don't stop! We have to go help Gray and Lucy!", Natsu declared. I grinned at his determination, then continued eating, though I had to take a break every so often, otherwise I would puke from the horrible tasting ice. Though it didn't matter, if I had too, I could still use my ice-eating abilities to give me an edge if Gray couldn't defeat that guy.

"Alright, done! You should be able to melt the rest of it off!", I declared, as I kneeled beside a tree trying desperately not to hurl.

"ALRIGHT!", Natsu roared, as his flames covered his body, melting the little ice that I had left.

"We need to split up.", I stated, grabbing him beofre he could go haring off. "One of us needs to go attend to Lucy, and one of us needs to help Gray."

"I've got Lucy, we'll take care of saving the village. Go help Gray kick that guy's ass!", Natsu roared as he took off through the forest.

"Good luck!", I declared as I sprinted back towards the mountain, where Gray was fighting Lyon.

 **A/N: Hey guys, so I know I said every Sunday, but I was feeling inspired by all the awesome follows and reviews I've been getting so ta-da! I want to thank everyone for all the follows and favorites, I never thought my story would be this popular! I also want to say that this chapter is dedicated to Lynntheripper for her amazing reviews! So please remember to review this chapter, and tune in on Sunday for the next installation!**


	10. Chapter 10

_Previously…_

 _"We need to split up.", I stated, grabbing him before he could go haring off. "One of us needs to go attend to Lucy, and one of us needs to help Gray."_

" _I've got Lucy, we'll take care of saving the village. Go help Gray kick that guy's ass!", Natsu roared as he took off through the forest._

" _Good luck!", I declared as I sprinted back towards the mountain, where Gray was fighting Lyon._

I clambered my way up to the top of the temple, where the light had ceased to glow. I crashed through only to find Gray, bruised and beaten, laying on the ground.

"Aquila. What are you doing here?", Gray murmured.

I dropped to my knees beside him, and began to inspect his wounds. "I came looking for you. Natsu went after Lucy, to ensure she and the village were safe. I came to help you kick that guy's ass, but instead I found you here. That was reckless Gray. Really, really reckless. I could've taken him out no sweat, ate his ice into dust, but NO, you'd rather send me after Natsu. Well, I hoped you learnt your lesson, in fact you had it beaten into you, so don't ever do something something so foolish and scary again! We'd miss you at the guild, I'd miss you, Natsu, ash-for-brains that he is, would miss you, Erza would miss you. So don't do foolish things.", I looked down at Gray and say that he had passed out on me, though it appeared to be a far from peaceful sleep.

"Tch, that's just typical. I decide to pull out my softer side that wasn't going to beat you for your ridiculous plan to fight him alone, and how do you repay me? You pass out!", I sighed, exasperated with the mage beside me. I stood and hoisted him into my back. How was this in anyway typical? I began to pick my way down the mountain, determined to rendezvous with Natsu and Lucy at the village.

"Hey…", Gray's voice broke me out of my reverie and I stopped for a moment.

"Yeah Gray?", I asked brusquely.

"I'm sorry, for not believing that I needed you… I know better.", Gray whispered, I felt a tear drip onto my shoulder.

"Don't.", I stated firmly, feeling him tense up at my response. "Don't let yourself fall into self-pity. I've been there. I know the effect it has on your confidence, on your fighting ability. So just don't. You are a member of Fairy Tail. When you chose to have that mark placed on your chest, you chose to embody the spirit of our guild. And that spirit is to NEVER GIVE UP! You lost a fight, so what?! Now you know better for the next one! A Fairy Tail wizard is only ever down, never out! So pick up the pieces Gray, put them back together stronger than before and let that time that has you pinned down start again!", I felt a single tear drip down my own cheek and I wiped it away.

"Come on! We have a ways to go to make it back to the village in time!", I stated and took off into the forest, Gray's weight slowing me. He remained silent for the remainder of our journey.

As we drew closer to the village, we encountered Natsu, huffing and puffing next to a tree. "What on earth are you doing here?! You were supposed to be helping Lucy and the villagers!", I growled.

"Ha ha, about that… I got lost.", Natsu chuckled sheepishly. I banged my head against the tree then sighed.

"Come on Natsu, we need to get back to the village.", and with that we took off at a run.

As we approached the village the gate raised, revealing Lucy and the villagers. They began to panic and cried out for us to stop. I dragged my heels into the ground and was relieved that I did so when Natsu went tumbling into a pit-fall at the front gate.

"I'm so glad you two are okay!", Lucy exclaimed, as Natsu sat at the bottom of his pit.

"I'm all right and so is Natsu, but Gray needs medical attention, he's down for the count.", I declared. A few of the villagers and I lowered an injured Gray onto a mat, I gently lowered his head to the ground and brushed some dirt off his face.

"Bring me some hot water, and bandages.", I ordered and some of the women hurried off to do my bidding.

"So why haven't Lyon's lackeys arrived yet?", Natsu asked Lucy, who frowned at the question.

"You know, that a good question. They left for the village before you two, but you got here first. I wonder what's taking them so long…", Lucy pondered aloud.

"Yeah, and with getting lost and all, I was pretty slow.", Natsu agreed. I had begun to bandage Gray's wounds cleaning them out with the hot water, and then dressing them. I slid some bandages carefully around his forehead, moving gently so I wouldn't cause him undue distress.

"Wait, what's that?", one of the villagers cried out, pointing to a far off moving object in the sky. It was that rat we had fought earlier, the one that belonged to Sherry. It was carrying a large bucket. As it flew one of the drops flew off the side of the bucket, I tensed, catching the smell coming off it.

"LUCY!", I screamed as the drop of acid flew straight towards her.

"Watch out!", Natsu yelled as he dove past me and tackled Lucy, moving her out of the way and saving her from the acid, which dissolved a deep hole in the ground.

"That smell… I knew the stuff was deadly.", Natsu stated as we all stared at the hole. The villagers began to panic, quickly coming to the conclusion that they planned to dump that acid jelly on the village.

The rat flung the jelly out in arc that would cover the town and the surrounding forest.

"How are we going to protect ourselves from acid jelly?!", Lucy screamed.

"I want everyone to get into the center of the village!", Natsu yelled, as he ran and jumped into the air, Happy flying him up.

"Natsu's got this, now everyone into the center.", I yelled and the villagers began to move into the center. Once everyone was assembled, I took a deep breath. "LISTEN TO ME! No one is to leave the ice dome until we determine it's safe to reemerge.", I yelled before turning into ice. I cast my icy body into a layer that went to the edges of the villagers and I began to form a dome. I felt my body being pulled into a thin layer of ice that encapsulated all of the villagers. It would shield them from any acid, if only for a moment. I converged my consciousness onto the top of the dome, where I watched Natsu use his Brilliant Flame to disperse the jelly so that it went in a circle around my dome. I cried out however, causing the glass dome to shake, when a piece of acid hit my dome and therefore my body where the chief lay on his son's grave.

The dome fell apart as I returned the ice into the shape of my body. I wasn't unsctahed however, I cried out when throbbing pain hit my leg and I looked down to see a huge gash on my thigh.

"Aquila!", Lucy cried out, running over to me with Stella. I sucked in a harsh breath trying not to scream. The acid had eaten away at my leg, leaving the gash. "Hold still, Virgo!" Lucy called to her spirit who had not been dismissed yet.

"Yes, princess?", Virgo asked as she walked to us.

"Can you bandage Aquila's leg?", lucy asked with worry.

"I can. Please hold still miss.", Virgo stated as she bent down and began to bandage my leg. I let out a shaky breath as she finished, it hurt like hell.

"You, you saved my son's grave. Thank you!", Moka cried out with tears in his eyes. I gave a pain-filled smile. I opened my mouth in response when the grave was toppled over.

The three minions approached, with cool faces. "The Cold Emperor ordered us to eradicate the village and its people. We were trying to show mercy by making your deaths quick and painless.", Sherry stated with a flip of her hair. I let out a growl at her statement. Having been hit by the acid, I could say our deaths would not have been _painless._ Sherry continued, saying, "But since that didn't work we'll have to resort to bloodshed."

"Fifty villagers, three wizards, one of whom is injured, shouldn't take more than 20 minutes.", Yuka stated coldly.

"You ready?", Natsu asked, shifting his into a battle stance.

"Yeah.", Lucy replied, hand on her keys.

"Count again, because there's four wizards!", Happy cheered.

"Aye!", Stella agreed with a grin. I groaned internally. _That damn blue cat…_ He'd been teaching Stella bad habits, like his ridiculous catchphrase.

"How dare they?! Such disrespect!", Moka growled, his body trembling with fury. He attempted to leap at them, but was held back by some villagers.

"Let me help you.", I heard a voice mutter. I turned my head to see Gray standing, albeit on unsteady legs.

"Not going to happen."

"No way", Natsu and I spoke simultaneously. I paused as Natsu continued.

"We don't need your help. We don't need either of you guys' help."

"Natsu, don't do this to me.", Gray panted out, as Natsu slammed his fist into his gut, causing him to pass out once again.

"Just lay down and get some rest.", Natsu stated as Gray sank into unconsciousness.

"As for you, we don't need your help. We can take the small-fry. I can tell you're ready to pass out from the pain. Just let go, we'll take care of Stella.", Natsu stated, casting a look in my direction.

I smiled through the pain and looked at both Natsu and Lucy, make eye contact with each of them. "Give them hell.", I said as I fell back onto the ground, finally relinquishing my tense hold on consciousness

 **A/N: Hey everyone!, I'm sorry for not updating on Sunday but I had too much homework! Better late than never, right?**. **Also sorry for how short it is but the next chapter will be lengthy to make up for it! Enjoy and remember to review!**


	11. Chapter 11

_Previously on…_

 _I smiled through the pain and looked at both Natsu and Lucy, make eye contact with each of them. "Give them hell.", I said as I fell back onto the ground, finally relinquishing my tense hold on consciousness._

I blinked back into consciousness what felt like only a short time after my eyes had shut. I eased upright to see that I had been lying next to Gray, who was beginning to awaken himself. We needed to find out what had happened. I assumed Natsu and Lucy had been victorious against Lyon's minions because we were still alive, but we needed to figure out what was going on.

"Ugh, where am I?", Gray groaned as he finally eased fully upright.

"It appears we are in one of the villagers' tents. I just woke up myself so I don't know how Natsu and Lucy fared in the battle against Lyon's forces.", I stated, throwing back the covers off my mattress. "It'd be best to go see what has transpired while we were out.", I groaned as I eased up onto my feet, while my healing has helped, my leg was still sore from the acid.

"Aquila! What happened to your leg?!", Gray demanded to know, as he struggled to his feet to lend me a hand. I held up my hand to stop him from closer, as I took a look at my leg. It was wrapped in bandages, giving it a much worse appearance than it actually was.

"I'm fine, they tried to dissolve the village in acid. I had to use my shifting and turned into a shield to cover everyone. Natsu dispersed most of it around us, but while I was shielding the chief, a drop of it hit me. Since as you well know, whatever happens to me in my icy form affects my actual body, I had a huge wound on my leg. But I can feel the ice in my bloodstream working to reform over the wound. I should be healed in a few days. But I am well enough to fight for now.", I declared, as I finally gained my bearings and stood upright. "Enough about me. We need to find Natsu, Lucy, Stella, and Happy."

We exited the tent, Gray holding the flap open for me as I sent him a glare. I was injured, not an invalid.

"Oh thank goodness, I'm glad you're awake.", one of the village women walked over to us, Lulu, I believe was her name.

"What is this place?", Gray asked, staring around us in confusion.

"It's a storage area. Everything was destroyed in the attack last night, so we came here for shelter. ", she explained.

"The whole village? That's horrible.", Gray declared. His eyes lit up in horror, as he seemed to recall something. Then he grabbed his chest, laying his hand over his guild mark, as though something was hurting him.

"Whoa there tiger.", I exclaimed, grabbing his arm and laying it across my shoulders. "Take it easy, you're still more banged up than I am."

"You know, it's a miracle Natsu, Aquila, and Lucy were here. Because of them, everyone made it out alive.", Lulu said with a smile.

"Could you tell us where they are?", I asked with a smile. We needed to find them and plan our next move.

"Yes, they actually wanted me to show you to their tent one you'd woken up.", Lulu said. I raised an eyebrow at her choice of words. Their tent? How very… interesting.

"Which tent?", Gray asked.

"They're waiting for you over there, in that large tent.", Lulu pointed to the tent and I thanked her. Gray shrugged me off and was standing on his own, which gave me a feeling of relief. If he was well enough to be stubborn then he was fine.

We walked over to the tent and then made the biggest mistake of our lived. A feeling of horror shot through me as we saw Erza sitting on a crate, with a tied up Lucy, Happy, and Stella next to her. ""You two made me wait. Not smart.", Erza stated coldly.

"Erza!", Gray and I yelped in unison.

"Why are they tied up?!", Gray exclaimed.

Ignoring his question, Erza continued, "Lucy and Happy have caught me up to speed on what has happened here. I thought you were sent here to stop Natsu and these two fools.", Erza growled, stepping closer to Gray. AS she began to prepare her lecture for him, I began to creep around and out of the tent, better to let her take her rage out on Gray.

"And you!", I heard her roar, as I felt a crushing grip grab my braid and yank me backwards. "You know the rules! You're an S-class mage. You understood the risks that you took when bringing them here!", Erza began to emanate one of her deathly auras as I aimed a lazy smile meant to cover up how I was terrified and prepared to die. I jumped into my speech meant to save myself from certain death which also goes by the name of Erza.

"Erza! My partner, my comrade, my friend! I was never going to let anything happen to them. Come on now, can't you cut me a break? I would never let anything happen to my nakama, and you took me on plenty of S-class missions in order to prepare me for the trials.", I pleaded, sending her one of my sweet smiles that always persuaded her to buy me my own cake.

"Your flattery won't get you out of trouble this time, Aquila!", Erza growled as I gave her a sheepish smile. "Master is cross with you!", she said, causing me to gulp. I didn't fancy having to grovel my way out of _that punishment._ As I started to slide out another excuse, she redirected her focus back onto Gray.

"I thought you were sent to _stop_ Natsu and these two fools. Aquila was… unexpected until Lucy revealed that she was here. Needless to say, I'm disappointed.", Erza stood with a hand on her hip.

"Where is Natsu?", Gray frowned, while holding his hands out in a placating gesture.

I frowned as well, concerned for the other slayer, "Did he not return last night after vanquishing the other two minions. He must've succeeded as we're obviously all still here.", I muttered, the last part more to myself than anyone else.

"That's something we'd all like to know.", Erza stated coldly.

"The last time I saw him, he was fighting against the Cold Emperor's lackeys. But when we went back to where he last was in the village, there wasn't any sign of him. Wherever he is, I hope he's okay.", Lucy mumbled, her face tight with worry. "Anyways, since we couldn't find him, Erza demanded that we take her to you two, but I had idea where you ended up."

"So, Stella and I did some scouting from the air. And from up there, Stella and I could see that the villagers had moved into this storage area.", Happy took over the story, finishing it for Lucy.

"Okay, we're going to search for Natsu, and then we're going back to the guild.", Erza declared, and as I opened my mouth to protest, Gray beat me to the punch.

"But we can't leave the island just yet! If Lucy filled you in then you know exactly what these villagers are going through right now!", Gray protested furiously.

"And what would be your point?", Erza asked Gray coldly, her eyes filled with calm fury. He took a step back shocked at Erza's lack of compassion.

"The point is that we will not turn our backs on people who need us!", I yelled, causing Erza to whirl in my direction. "Where's your compassion Erza?! They need us! And you can drag the others back but I'm an S-class wizard and I'm staying until the bitter end!", I released a growl at the end of my statement, hoping she would relent and at least let me stay to finish the job.

"I came here solely to apprehend these fools for breaking the rules of the guild. I'm not interested in anything other than that. You are as guilty as they are, for violating Master's policy and for letting Happy take the job request in the first place. I know you have enhanced sense, you knew he had taken the job. I'm not interested in excuses or unfinished business. We're finding Natsu and then we will return to the guild and you all will face your punishment.", Erza stared straight ahead as she spoke, her face showing no emotion, her eyes betraying nothing.

"The rules?! Have you seen what's happened to the people on this island?!", Gray demanded of Erza, his eyes ablaze with anger.

"I have.", Erza's response was terse and blunt.

"And you're just going to turn your back on them?!", Gray demanded.

"There request is posted on the boards of every guild hall. The villagers would be served by wizards who are cleared for S-class. S-class wizards who follow the rules laid down by their guild masters.", Erza said, directing a glare at me, preventing my response, "You all are unqualified."

"How can you be so heartless?!", Gray yelled, his eye wide.

Erza turned to him, her eye flashing, "What did you say?!"

Happy began to panic, and Stella crawled to hide behind Lucy, who was pale with fear herself.

"Have you chosen to defy the guild's rules as well?! You will face the same punishment!", Erza declared, requipping a sword and pointing it at Gray's throat. I hardened my arm into ice and knocked it away, stepping in between her and Gray.

"There is such loss of life at stake here, Erza! It matters not who broke what rule or what the proper punishment is! Fine, punish us! But you will do so after we complete the request and after we return to hear the Master's verdict! And I don't care if we are partners, don't you ever point a sword in any of our friends' direction in anger again, or so help me god, I will knock you flat on your ass!", I growled with ferocity as she lowered her sword, her expression stunned. Gray had remained silent until now, but chose now to look up at Erza with cold determination in his eyes.

"Do what you must. For me, there's no other choice to make. I can't walk away from what I know is right.", Erza's expression faltered for a moment as Gray walked around her and moved to leave the tent. "I'm seeing this through to the end. And you can't stop me." With that as his final statement, Gray left the tent.

Erza was trembling so hard that I thought she would crumble away. Lucy whimpered with fear as Erza turned towards her, Happy, and Stella. Her blade flashed three times, and the ropes fell away from my companions. Stella flew up and dove into my chest, snuggling into me.

"I'm so glad you're okay!", she chirped, her feline eyes wide with relief and happiness. "I was worried that that acid had done some permanent damage."

"Don't worry you silly kitty. I'm fine and will be perfectly whole again in a few days. For now, let's worry about finishing the mission.", I tapped my cat's nose with a finger, causing her to giggle.

"These events are intolerable. We will deal with the immediate problems for now.", Erza declared, her expression lost in thought.

"Thank you!", Lucy and Happy cheered.

"This doesn't change anything. You're still going to face punishment.", Erza's expression switched back to a cold one like lightning, bursting Happy and Lucy's delusion of escaping this without punishment.

As Lucy and Happy exited the tent, I paused before turning back to Erza for a moment, my face serious. "Glad to see you sorted out your priorities and remembered why we are the best at what we do.", with those parting words I left the tent, following Lucy and Happy, Stella curled in my arms.

Erza followed after us and we rendezvoused with Gray, then immediately sent out for the temple. On our way, Gray enlightened us as to what Lyon's plans were, how he intended to fight Deliora in order to surpass Ur.

"Are you kidding me? He seriously wants to fight that demon?!", Lucy exclaimed, panting for breath as we ran to the temple. Gray remained silent, then slowly came to a halt. As we slowed he began to speak.

"Even back when we were kids, Lyon's always dreamed of surpassing Ur's magic ability, but since she's gone and he can't challenge her directly, he's decided it's up to him to kill Deliora; since it's the one thing she couldn't do.", Gray braced himself against a tree as he talked, keeping his back to us.

"I guess that would be the only way to challenge someone who's dead.", Lucy said softly, her expression gentle.

"Listen, there's something, something I never got to tell him.", Gray murmured quietly. "I kept it secret, Ur made me promise to never let him know. But I have to.", his expression was sent in a grimace, eyes staring off into the distance but seemingly seeing something we weren't. "Ur may not be with us, but she's still alive!"

Lucy gasped, and Erza's expression was shocked. I merely nodded. Now I had one of the pieces to the puzzle, I merely needed to find out the rest.

 **A/N: Well, that's the next chapter, and what do you know, it's on time and everything! I hope you guys like it and review! Be excited because next chapter we get into the battles!**


	12. Chapter 12

_Previously on…_

 _"Listen, there's something, something I never got to tell him.", Gray murmured quietly. "I kept it secret, Ur made me promise to never let him know. But I have to.", his expression was sent in a grimace, eyes staring off into the distance but seemingly seeing something we weren't. "Ur may not be with us, but she's still alive!"_

 _Lucy gasped, and Erza's expression was shocked. I merely nodded. Now I had one of the pieces to the puzzle, I merely needed to find out the rest._

"What do you mean?", Erza asked gently, a confused expression lingering on her face.

"It's been 10 years…", Gray took a deep breath before beginning his tale, one a boy who lost everything but came back from it, only to have it taken once again due to a prideful mistake. As he described burying his parents and how he wanted revenge, a tear dripped down my cheek. I wiped it away, and didn't let another fall. Better not to empathize with him, because I _could_ empathize with him, but our situations were vastly different and there would be no tears if my story were to be heard. But nonetheless, I wanted to sob for that little boy crying as he laid daisies in the snow, because I knew just how he felt.

As Gray finished his story, Lucy had turned to look at the temple. "Hey guys, is it just me, or does that temple look a little crooked now?", Lucy frowned as she tilted her head, trying to see the temple correctly. I looked at it and took notice that, it was indeed of center, as though it had been tilted… most likely by a destructive fire dragon slayer.

"What happened to it?", Happy pondered aloud.

"It looks funny.", Stella commented from her position atop my head.

"My guess is Natsu.", Gray stated as he stared off at the temple.

"Me too.", Erza agreed.

"I don't know how he managed to pull it off, but he's the only one who could do something that crazy.", Gray stated and I smiled slightly. After hearing some of Gray's tale, I wasn't much in the mood for smiling. "It's a pretty great idea if he did it on purpose,", Gray continued. "Since the temple's tilted like that, the moonlight won't hit Deliora."

"I concur. Glad to see that Fairy Tail's sense of destruction can be beneficial, and not just fun.", I grinned, cheering a little at the thought of Natsu going to town.

As Lucy and Happy began to banter, I caught the flash of Erza's eyes, and heard the rustle of footsteps in the trees, along with the soft whispers of people.

"Scatter!", I roared, as I leapt into the air, Gray dodging to the left, and Erza throwing Lucy and Happy into the brush. Stella clung onto my head for dear life as I dodged the rush of knives thrown our way.

As I dropped back to the ground, Stella jumped down and headed for Happy, who had a longstanding agreement with me to look out for Stella during battles (meaning I'd shave him bald if he let her get hurt).

"Who's there?!", Erza bellowed as we regained our footing to see Lyon's minions surrounding us.

"We won't let you stop this Fairy Tail!", the leader bellowed.

"I can handle this myself.", Erza declared as she held out here hand for a magic circle to reappear. As a sword appeared Erza tossed a brief glance over her shoulder, "I'll take care of them. You go and settle things with Lyon."

Gray was stunned by her words and gave a small nod. "We'll fight with her! You just go and do what you've got to do!", Lucy declared.

"Thanks you guys.", Gray gave a small smile and turned to race off.

I caught his arm as he made to leave a forced him to look me in the eyes. "Remember what I said Gray, about living in the past.", with those parting words I let him go and he raced off to do battle with Lyon.

I turned to the minions encroaching on us and let my ice pour forth, coating the area in a layer of tundra.

"I'm hella pissed. So I'll give you to the count of one before I freeze you all solid.", I growled, ice coating my skin.

"Uh oh, she's pissed off!", Lucy gulped and moved a little ways away from me.

"One.", as the word exited my mouth, a wave of frozen magic poured off my body, freezing the front half of the crowd. The rest swelled forward though, determined to beat us down. They were determined to fail then. I cracked my icy knuckles and plunged into the fray beside Erza, and Lucy's spirit Taurus. With every punch, I imagined it to be Deliora, angry that that was the childhood of one of my friends.

As the fight wore on, with Erza, Lucy and I slowly wearing them down, I detected a shift in the air. Maker-magic began to coat the air. After hearing about Ur and how she had been turned to ice, I knew what that scent meant.

"Something's wrong, I'm going to look for Gray!", I yelled, while slamming two minions heads together before tossing them into the mass.

"What?!", Erza barely had time to call out before I turned and sprinted for the temple, praying I wasn't too late to stop Gray form making the biggest mistake of his life.

As I crashed into the hall, which had been coated with Lyon's ice, I stopped in Gray's point of entry, watching as he slid into the position of the iced shell. "It's time we accepted our punishment, together.", Gray finished stating as I watched from the doorway.

"That stance! Not the iced shell!", Lyon cried out, from where he stood poised to fight.

"The iced shell?", Natsu murmured from the other side of Gray, causing me to realize that he must have been the one fighting Lyon to begin with. His eyes widened with realization as he realized what iced shell was.

"Are you really insane?! You wouldn't dare!", Lyon cried out, his skepticism trying to disguise a layer of fear in his voice.

"If you want to live, change the villagers back to their human forms. And then leave this island and never return!", Gray thundered, never once wavering from his position. As a magic circle appeared beneath him, he said more quietly, "If you'll agree to that, I'll stop. Otherwise, this is the end."

"That so? Well, I don't believe a word of it.", Lyon, turned his back to Gray, daring him to cast the spell. "You're bluffing."

Gray's only response was to narrow his eyes and increase the magic pouring off of him. "No, I'm not.", Gray's calmness enraged me.

"Gray, don't!", I bellowed. He spared me only a glance before returning his eyes to Lyon.

"All these years, I've been lying to myself, saying Ur didn't due because of me. But she did! It's time I took responsibility.", Gray yelled, as Lyon only stared in shock. "So I will, here and now. I'm not afraid to die! If that's what it takes!"

"Stop this now!", Lyon yelled as his eyes widened a fraction in fear.

"What's it going to be Lyon?", Gray asked as cracks begin to appear on his body. "Are we going to die, or are we going to live?! It's up to you!"

"You wouldn't! You're not brave enough to give your life! You're nothing but a coward.", Lyon yelled, fear thickening into anger in his voice.

"Just watch me.", Gray stated quietly. The magic energy was almost pure white as it swirled even heavier around Gray and Lyon.

"Don't do it!", Natsu roared.

"Gray, DON'T", I screamed.

"Natsu, Aquila, Erza, all my friends in Fairy Tail, the rest is up to you. I don't want to leave you, but my time is up.", Gray murmured as he prepared to cast the spell that would take him from us forever. I however, wasn't willing to let him leave so easily.

I stepped in between him and Lyon, as he paused in the middle of his casting, causing the spell to die. "What are you doing?!", Gray yelled at me as Lyon stared in shock.

"What are you doing?!", I roared, repeating his own question back at him. "I won't let you Gray, I won't let you give your life. You told us that you swore to become the best wizard you could, to make Ur proud! How can you do that, if you waste it on a chump like this?!"

Gray dropped his stance, and stormed up to me, glaring down at me. "I've got a score to settle! I don't care if I have to die to do it!", He thundered.

I gave him the coldest look I possessed, "You are a coward, Gray Fullbuster."

The statement derailed him and he paused, "Wha-"

"You're a coward.", I interrupted him. "Dying is easy, Gray. It's living that's the trick. Take the guilt. Own it, accept it. Then move on with your life. Ur didn't sacrifice her life, just to watch you spend yours moping around. Live for her, for Fairy Tail!" I yelled at him. His betrayed shock and surprise. Our argument was interrupted when the temple shifted, the floor no longer tilted.

"This is bad. Now the moonlight can shine on Deliora.", Gray said, staring up at the ceiling that was now shifted the proper way.

"Pardon the interruption, my lord.", a man who smelled odd, almost like flowery perfume, rushed to Lyon's side.

"I should've known. Did you do this?", Lyon seemed oddly subdued in the face of his new associate.

"I did sir. The moon will be out soon, so I took the liberty of straightening the temple for you.", the man agreed calmly, seemingly not bothered by enemy mages in the room.

"He straightened the temple by himself?!", Gray cried out.

"And after I went to all that trouble to mess it up too. Hey, so what'd you do to fix it, huh?", Natsu yelled at the man. He smelt oddly, of magic and almost feminine.

The man merely let out a laugh. "I suppose I should commence the moon drip ceremony now.", and with a flourish he raced off.

"Quit ignoring me, you demon headed freak!", Natsu roared as he made to go after him. He paused however and turned to Gray and I. "I'm going to pound him a million, no, a billion times! I'll let you two handle that ice guy-

"No. He's mine. Gray you go with Natsu.", I ordered.

"No way-", Gray began to yell, yet shut up when I whipped around to glare at him.

"Go!", I yelled.

"Aye!", Natsu yelped, before dragging Gray out with him to deal with the other one.

I returned my attention to Lyon, who stood quiet in front of me, but once he had my gaze, slid his face into a scornful smirk. "What on earth do you think you can do to beat me girl?", Lyon cried out, his magic aura intensifying around him.

"I'm no little girl.", I responded as my magic began to circle around me. I yanked my hair out of its braid and let the strands crystallize as ice began to cover my body.

"Impudence, no ice magic can beat mine.", Lyon said dismissively as he assumed a battle stance, his lone hand held out in front of him. "Ice-make; Raptors!" He cried out, sending multiple birds flying in my direction. I grinned at his folly and opened my mouth wide, swallowing several birds aiming for my head, the rest shattering on my body.

"Wha- what is this?!", Lyon demanded, as I choked down the last of his disgusting ice.

"Your ice tastes nasty, like weakness and fear. But like any food that tastes bad, like vegetables or any such thing, it still provides energy. Meaning, I'm ready to fight you full-on now. Ice Dragon's ROAR!", I let my roar out, a blinding white ray of magic heading towards Lyon, but he dodged up and avoided the hit.

"I won't be defeated by you! My destiny is to surpass Ur!", He yelled, once again falling into a battle stance. "Ice-Make; Dragon!", unleashing a beast upon me, one nowhere near the size of a true dragon.

"Pathetic!", I said, leaping into the air as the dragon struck the ground, and landing on top of the dragon, which tried to throw me off, to little avail. I had absorbed my legs partially into the dragon, making me immovable. "Ice Dragon, Icicle tempest!", I summoned thousands of icicles into the air and hurled them at Lyon.

"Ice-Make; Shield!", Lyon threw a hasty shield, that blocked my icicles, but shattered along with them, the imbalance Gray had spoken of becoming apparent, throwing him back several feet. I shattered the dragon from the inside and landed on my feet.

"You foolish girl! You would side with Gray, even though it means your demise! You do know he is the reason our Master, Ur, had to use iced shell to begin with!", Lyon yelled, sending another fleet of birds at me, the impact shoved me back a few feet, but I recovered.

"I know! And I don't care! Gray was eight years old when he challenged Deliora! He didn't know any better, all he knew was heartbreak and loneliness that the demon had caused him!", I advanced on Lyon, removing my ice and swinging at him, clocking him on the jaw.

He staggered back, then readied himself, "If you know then, why don't you support my cause?! You owe him nothing, and he deserves to die for crushing my dreams, for killing Ur!", Lyon yelled with the vehemence of a mad-man. He landed a lucky blow on my stomach, causing me to falter for a moment. He grabbed my arm and made to swing me into the icy wall when I flipped him over my shoulder onto the ground, then pounced, pinning him to the floor.

"Ur isn't dead! She's in the ice, the ice you have been destroying with your moon drip!", I yelled at Lyon, who remained unfazed.

"I know what that spell does. But Ur is not alive in there. My master, for all intents and purposes, died when the iced shell was cast upon Deliora.", my eyes widened and my hold slackened when I realized what Lyon was saying. He had known. He had known Ur was in the ice and chose to perform the moon drip anyways.

Lyon took advantage of my shock and using his strength, kicked me off of him, slamming me into the wall.

I slowly stood, a little battered, a little bruised but nowhere near out of the fight. "I really hate it. When a child tries to kill their parent, or to kill their teacher. Or kill who's close to them. I won't ever get to meet Ur and tease Gray with her. It's not Gray I have to blame for that though. It's you and your selfish desires. You've crossed the line.", I murmured. I rose fully to my feet as ice coated my body once more. "You've hurt my comrades. You've tormented Gray, who is dear to me as any in the guild and for that, I'm done playing with you, I'm DONE going easy on you!", I yelled.

"Foolish girl. Ice-make; Snow tiger!", Lyon yelled, creating a beast lunging at me, ready to rip me to shreds.

I merely held out my hands to each side of me, palms up, like I was beseeching the heavens. Magic circles appeared over each hand, and I spoke with lethal calm. "Ice Dragon frozen blossoms.", then I began to spin, throwing out a lethal arc of razor sharp ice flowers that tore through Lyon's tiger, and tore through him. With a strangled yell, he went down and I slowed my spinning until I came to a complete stop. "No one hurts my friends, and you have done enough damage to one to warrant your death. But I'm a member of Fairy Tail and despite who I was before that, I won't take your life.", I ended the spell, and stared at the unconscious ice-make mage, wondering why he had gone so off course. I remembered the day Gray had come to the guild, and aside from Cana and I, the first of our generation of Fairy Tail. He had asked Gramps a question, but what is was and Gramps answer he never revealed.

He stayed at Fairy Tail, took our emblem and made a name for himself, yet he had always stood apart. But he knew that if he needed us he could come to us. Unlike the pathetic person before me, Gray wasn't alone, wasn't obsessed and never would be. He had Fairy Tail to make sure he never went down the path Lyon took. As these thoughts ran through my head, all I could feel was pity for the mage before me.

My thoughts were interrupted when a roar echoed through the temple. I cried out a clapped my hands over my ears. My sensitive hearing could hardly take the high-pitched frequency of the sound. With it came the sound of shattering ice and I turned and ran for the passageway to Deliora. Deliora must have been freed and by the scent of things, Natsu and Gray, along with that man, were with it. I had to make it to them, had to ensure that Gray was alright, because if I knew him as well as I thought I did, he would see only one solution; _Iced Shell._

 **A/N: Hey Guys, I'm updating a bit early because I'm spending all day tomorrow working on my Lucy Star Dress Leo Cosplay, so I wouldn't have time to update. But regardless, I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Remember to review! Thanks!**


	13. Chapter 13

_Previously on…_

 _Deliora must have been freed and by the scent of things, Natsu and Gray, along with that man, were with it. I had to make it to them, had to ensure that Gray was alright, because if I knew him as well as I thought I did, he would see only one solution; Iced Shell._

I sprinted down the corridor, as I heard Deliora roar once again. What was going on down there? I slid into the cavern that held the now awakened Deliora as the man Natsu and Gray were _supposed_ to have defeated cackled, "Finally! Deliora lives!"

"Aw man, I'm wasting my time on you. Let's finish this right now!", Natsu yelled as a large crystal ball slammed into the side of his forehead, sending him tumbling over.

"Ready when you are. Go ahead and do your worst, little salamander.", The man cackled as he moved the sphere through the air.

"Why you!", Natsu roared, leaping forward and smashing the orb, only to have it be reformed. "But I… broke it…", Natsu wheezed as it slammed into his stomach.

"I have the ability to control an object's time. I can take the orb back to before it was broken. I practice one of the lost magics, known as the arc of time. It's extremely rare and quite powerful.", the man grinned with malicious intent. "Would you care to see what happens when I send the ball into the future?", he cackled as the ball zoomed forward, past Natsu then slamming into him, faster than I could track, beating Natsu brutally.

"ENOUGH!", I roared, sending a flurry of icicles at the man. He dodged and landed atop another rock formation.

"Oh ho, another player. Did you finish the Cold Emperor off so easily then?", he cackled once more and I felt my blood turn to ice.

"Natsu, where's Gray?", I asked, my eyes remaining on the man, watching his every move.

"The snowflake passed out when he got a good hit in on his busted ribs.", Natsu replied, his words cold but his tone full of fury.

"I'm going to attend to Gray, then see what I can do about the demon.", I turned to where I then saw Gray lying on a rock, passed out. "Natsu, you have my faith. Kick his ass."

"You got it!", Natsu said, his voice filled with determination.

As explosions then started up once more, I ran towards where Gray lying, atop another rock pillar. With a flying leap, I cleared the gap, sailing across it effortlessly. I landed in a crouch then began to move towards Gray once again. When I reached his side, I carefully turned him onto his back, trying to avoid irritating his damaged ribs.

"Gray, can you hear me? Gray!", I gently shook his shoulder, and got no response. I placed two fingers at his pulse point on his neck, but my hands were so icy from all the magic I had used fighting Lyon that I couldn't tell if he had a pulse or not. With tendrils of fear attempting to wiggle their way into my consciousness, I placed my head over his chest, listening for his heartbeat, and breathing a sigh of relief when I found it.

Deliora let out another roar and broke through the rest of the ice, just as the moon drip ceased, the noise of which seemed to rouse Gray as I sat back up. "Huh? What happened?", He muttered groggily.  
"Thank god. You're awake. I hope you enjoyed your nap, because we have bigger problems.", I stated, rising to my feet. "Deliora's been released from the ice."

"WHAT?!", Gray yelled, as he took my proffered hand and rose to his feet as well.

"Gray, you're awake!", Natsu roared as he jumped over to us. "I took that guy down, he disappeared though.", he reported in.

"We'll have to settle that later. Right now we need a viable solution on how to stop this thing!", I ordered.

"Simple, we beat it to a pulp!", Natsu yelled, smashing his fists together to ignite them.

"None of you are strong enough. But I am. I will defeat it! I'm going to surpass Ur, finally!", Lyon had crawled in, and let out the laugh of a madman. None of my prior fury was present, I just pitied the broken soul before me.

"You can't fight, you can't even get up off the floor!", Natsu cried out, pointing at Lyon's low state.

Deliora let out another roar that had me supporting Gray as he almost fell over. He was too injured from his first fight with Lyon, the second fight with him, and then the fight with that man.

"I've been waiting so long for this moment. ", Lyon rasped as he stared fanatically at the demon. "Ur was strong, but not strong enough to kill this demon. I'm going to the one thing Ur never could! Finally, my dream will be fulfilled!" Lyon screeched as he stood, yet was knocked out in an instant by Gray, who had shook me off.

"You've caused enough trouble.", Gray strode off the pillar and into the melted ice that was Ur. "I'm going to clean up the mess you made… I'll seal the demon myself. ICED SHELL!"

Gray shifted into the stance and began to power up the spell, when Lyon began to shout at him from his position on the ground. "Don't do it, Gray! Do you have any idea how long it took me to melt that ice?! It won't stop me, I will defeat Deliora!", Lyon bellowed at the figure coated in the icy tendrils of his magic.

"I can't worry about the future now. I have to worry about stopping him now before he kills us all!", Gray yelled back, his eyes intent on the demon before him. For the second time that night, I stepped in front of his spell. "Aquila!"

"Don't you dare, Gray! Let Natsu and I handle it!", I yelled, my back to the demon, staring straight into Gray's stormy eyes.

"Don't be stupid, get out of my way!", Gray yelled.

"If I wouldn't let you give your life before, why would I let you now? You won't die that way, Gray. Not while I can stop it! My most powerful defensive magic, Frozen heart, allows me to encase my allies in a practically impenetrable ice shield. I know how it feels to be the ice. I know how Ur feels! I refuse to let you feel the same way! Cast the spell if you wish, but I'll be right here if you do!", I vowed, planting my feet .

"Aquila.", Gray whispered, before Deliora let out another huge roar, and swung its fist back in a heavy hitting punch, aiming for where I stood.

"AQUILA!", I heard Gray shout, as I planted my ice covered legs in the rock, and covered in ice, held a javelin of an icicle in my hand, braced for Deliora's oncoming attack.

My javelin met Deliora's claw and we held our ground, our attacks colliding, each waiting for the other to give ground, held in a staring contest of power. Deliora blinked first.

Cracks began to appear all throughout his arm, and appeared on the rest of his body. With one final roar, Deliora, crumbed into pieces.

"What the?! How strong are you Aquila?!", Natsu yelled, shocked from his position back on a rock pillar.

"What?! No way, that can't be!", Lyon's voice took on a strident note, as he watched Deliora crumple into the water. The water began to flow out to the sea.

"For ten years, Ur has gradually depleted the demons life force. And what we just saw, was nothing more than its last, dying breaths!", I watched as Lyon's fists curled, his voice thick with despair.

"Man Gray, your teacher was pretty awesome!", Natsu crowed.

"You've saved my life again, Thank you Ur.", Gray whispered as he shoulders shook with sobs, and tears dripped down his cheeks. I walked over to him, and placed my hand gently on his shoulder. I felt him tense then relax at the touch, the acceptance of his loss all that he wanted.

I released his shoulder when Lucy, Erza, Happy, and Stella came flooding into the cavern. Happy crashed into Natsu who gave his friend a hug, then dropped him and attempted to make a run for it when he saw Erza. I stifled a giggle as a ball of ginger fluff crashed into my chest, snuggling up close to me.

"AQUILA! I'm so glad everyone's okay, and the big, nasty demon is gone too! We did it, we beat them! I even helped Erza and Lucy, I flew above the bad guys and helped throw sticks and branches at them like Happy told me too!", Stella chirped as she went on and on, describing how she helped to take care of the bad guys.

"I'm proud of you, Stella. You did well.", I grinned at my exceed, who gave a smile back and snuggled into me. I watched as Gray helped Lyon up and we began to exit the cavern, when something shiny caught my eye. I crouched and placed Stella on the ground. SHe gave me a questioning look and I shooed her ahead, saying I needed to check something and would meet them at the village. With a shrug, Stella followed them around the corner and out of my sight.

I strode over to where I say the gleaming object, hidden by some water. I knelt in the water to discover a chunk of ice that had not yet melted. I held it in my hands and wondered what Ur had been like, the woman to raise both Gray and Lyon, two entirely different people, who took entirely different paths.

As I contemplated the ice shard, I was stunned when I saw what appeared to be an eye, deep blue with a twinkle flash at me from inside the ice, and I heard what sounded like a whisper on the wind say, _Thank you for taking care of Gray._ I had never heard the voice before, but without a reasonable doubt, I could say it was Ur. I placed the ice shard and bowed before it, with my fist clasped over my heart.

"Thank you Ur, for raising a person such as Gray, that deserves to be protected.", I caught a flash of a smile, as the ice dissolved into water, and joined the rest to flow into the ocean.

 **A/N: Alright, I know it's a little shorter than normal, but considering I'm updating earlier, I think it should be fine. Thanks to Lynntheripper, Irondragonsword, and JaDeCiTa609 for their wonderful reviews! I hope you enjoyed the chapter, remember to review! (P.S. Don't worry you're still getting a update this coming Sunday!)  
**


	14. Chapter 14

_Previously on…_

" _Thank you Ur, for raising a person such as Gray, that deserves to be protected.", I caught a flash of a smile, as the ice dissolved into water, and joined the rest to flow into the ocean._

As I rejoined the others at the entrance to the villagers temporary housing, I caught up to Erza.

"So did the come to the conclusion they were done?", I asked seeing everyone's thoughtful faces.

"Of course.", Erza responded, her gaze straight ahead.

"And did you crush their frail little hopes?", I grinned at my partner.

"Like an enemy.",she replied without missing a beat, a small smile appearing on her face.

"Hey, where is everybody? Are you sure they came here?", Natsu asked as the storage area appeared deserted.

"Yeah, this has been their camp. I wonder where they could've gone.", Lucy pondered aloud.

"HELLOOO!", Happy yelled out as he floated along, Stella flying next to him.

"Nice villagers, are you here?", Stella called out as well.

"Since we're here, I'm going to grab bandages and some medicine.", Gray announced as he ducked into the tent he and I had awoken in this morning.

"I'll help you.", I followed him into the tent and helped him begin to gather things when I paused in my movements.

"Something wrong?", Gray asked, stopping as well.

I lowered my head and whispered as a tear dripped down my cheek, "I hope you know Gray, Ur is so proud of you. She's glad you're happy and safe."

"What'd you say, I didn't quite catch it.", Gray said leaning in a bit, then falling back with a gulp. "Uh, crap, don't cry!", Gray started to panic, like all men do when a woman starts to cry.

I let out a small laugh, and wiped my eyes. "Never mind Gray, it's nothing. I'm just happy that you're okay, that we're all okay."

Gray frowned at me, "You sure are acting funny."

With that my attitude did a one-eighty. SMACK! "Ow, what the hell Aquila? One second you're crying and I'm checking up on you, and the next you're beating me to death. Make up your mind. Ow dammit!", Gray whined as he cradled the back of his thick skull.

"Quit crying you damn stripper, come on, let's see what's going on outside, I'm starting to catch some scents.", I ran out of the tent leaving a groaning Gray behind. I paused at the exit however, and turned and walked back to Gray. I swiftly darted in and laid a kiss on his cheek. "I'm glad you're okay stripper.", with that, I strode out of the tent to scent a herd amassing at the village. I called out to Gray that I was following Natsu, Erza, and Lucy's scents, then began to track them back to the village, where everything was miraculously repaired.

I caught up to Erza where she stood observing from the front of the village.

"Yo.", I called out as I approached her, "You got a plan, it looks like we're going to have to finish this."

"Yes, I do believe I've almost figured it out, I just need a few more answers.", Erza stated with a nod of her head. I grinned and clapped her on her shoulder.

"Well you know you've always got me if you need me. But since I've had to babysit these wizards for a while, I think I'll let you take point, yeah?", I grinned as Erza cast me an exasperated look.

"What am I going to do with you?", She rolled her eyes with a sigh. I merely laughed then watched as she called the meeting to order.

"I need to ask you all a few questions.", Erza announced. The villagers began to gather, whispering amongst themselves.

"Let me make sure I have my facts straight. The first time everyone in the village took on these demonic forms is when the moon began to turn purple. Is that correct?", Erza asked.

"Yes, During the day we're fine but when the moon rises, we transform into what you see now.", Moka responded.

I listened intently as Erza continued her questioning, establishing they had seen the glowing purple light, had tried to see what was going on to no avail, the time in which they had been changing, and was then interrupted by Lucy's pitfall trap. I stifled a giggle, but not my grin at Natsu and Gray's shock, as well as Lucy's panic. I learned that they were forbidden by village lore to go near the temple, and pieces began to fall into place.

 _The moon drip never affected Lyon or his followers all of whom are human, then the other facts, temples are holy places, demons aren't able to enter them, underneath them, like Deliora was yes, but not through the front door. Their transformed forms are demons, and the one aspect of themselves that remains is a demon limb, which leaves me inclined to believe…_

My thoughts were interrupted by Erza's call. I looked up from where I had been leaning against a house, to see her transforming into her Giant armor.

"Aquila, you and Natsu follow me, I could use your assistance to destroy the moon.", Erza called out as she began to ascend one of the towers.

I cackled along with Natsu while Gray, Lucy, Happy, and Stella stared at us in shock as we climbed the tower.

"This is giant's armor. It increase my strength and allows me to throw farther. And this…", Erza held her hand out and requipped a giant lance, part of the same set of armor as her armor, " is the spear of Haja, it repels darkness."

"I see, so you're going to using the spear to knock the moon out of the sky!", Natsu cheered excitedly as I smirked. Erza's actions had confirmed my own conjectures. The villagers weren't human at all, they were demon to begin with, that why a demon limb was always continuous, whatever their form.

"That's right Natsu. I'm going to need to use your firepower as a boost, and Aquila, I want you to cover the spear in ice, then using your cryokinesis, help to guide it up and help me to fling it.", Erza directed. "Natsu, we'll need to time our attack perfectly, but I want you to hit the back of the spear, as I throw it. It should give me just enough power, with our attacks combined."

Natsu cackled with glee, once more as we assumed our positions. I laid my hands on the spear and froze it over, then stepped back. I lifted my arms and felt my ice respond, lifting the spear just slightly.

"NOW NATSU!", Erza yelled as she and I moved in sync, her throwing the spear and cupping my hands together to help focus my cryokinesis, we threw the spear in sync, with Natsu adding an extra dose of power to the end of it.

I steered the spear right towards the moon, it hurtling up through the air.

"ALMOST THERE!", Erza yelled, as the crowd beneath us watched, spellbound.

As we watched the spear strike, something appeared to crack and fracture, then pieces of purple began to fall from the sky, revealing a beautiful white full moon.

"Huh, What's going on?!", Natsu asked Erza, who merely gestured to me.

"This is what was causing the transformations. A membrane of moon essence was covering the sky.", I explained.

I watched as the villagers began to glow with a golden light. Then remain in their demon forms. Their true forms.

"Now that the shell has been broken, everything will go back to the way it was three years ago.", Erza stated with a smile.

"What's wrong with them?! They're not transforming.", Gray stated as Lucy covered her mouth in shock.

"That's not right, we fixed the problem, didn't we?", Stella asked, floating up to me as I stepped of the ladder after descending from the tower.

"We did, Stella. Don't worry.", I patted my cat comfortingly as she flopped onto my head.

"The moon drip never had any affect on their appearance. However, it seems to have altered their memories.", Erza explained as we walked over to Lucy and Gray.

"What do you mean?", Lucy asked, confused.

"They think they're humans transformed into demons, but actually it's the other way round.", Erza smiled, amused as I was by the vast misunderstanding.

"Then you mean, they're-?", Lucy's voice trembled with the unspoken question.

"Bingo, we have a winner!", I grinned as Lucy and Gray jumped in shock.

"Is that true? Our memories are all hazy, did we look like humans when you all met us?", one asked.

"Yes, you did look like humans, but only due to the fact that you have the ability to don human appearances. Your mixed up memories led you to believe that your temporary states were actually true forms. In actuality, you all merely fell victim to the moon drip's side effects.", Erza explained to the confused demons. I grinned, I did love it when a job was done and we got to play Sherlock and Watson and explain it all to everyone.

"Why Erza, do explain why Lyon and ourselves weren't affected?", I stated with a bit of a mocking tone, I did love giving her opportunities to explain our collective genius.

"You seem to have figured it out almost as quickly as I did, Aquila. Why don't you explain?", Erza cocked an eyebrow at me as I cast her another grin.

"Why, I'd love to Erza. The answer is simple. Lyon and ourselves are all human. As for deducing this lovely little mystery, well it all made sense once the villagers confessed their inability to go to the temple. The moonlight was sacred, so creatures of darkness, such as demons couldn't go near it.", I explained with a bow and a flourish.

As I stood, my ears pricked and I turned to see a figure shuffling up. "I knew I could trust you and your friends. Thanks wizards! I owe you one.", Bobo stood before us, alive and well, I felt my heart flutter in relief. There were no parents who had killed their children in this village.

"GHOST!", Lucy screamed as she clung to Happy.

"For god's sake, there are no such things as ghosts! There's no doubt an explanation.", I snapped at the hysterical Lucy.

"I really hope you kids can forgive me for not telling you the truth sooner!", Bobo called down from where he floated in the air on wings. "I was the only one who didn't have any memory loss. I had to leave because everyone went nuts! I knew I was a demon, but everyone else, they thought they were cursed humans!", Bobo let out another laugh as he remained high in the air.

"Bobo…", Moka's eyes filled with tears and his wings snapped out. He launched himself into the air and enveloped his son in a hug. With that, everyone else leapt into the air and began to celebrate Bobo's return.

I smiled and surreptitiously wiped away a tear. I was happy that somewhere in this messed up world, there was a reunion like this between a separated parent and child.

I exchanged grins with the rest of my team mates as we watched them soar above us.

"Tonight we shall have a feast to celebrate!", I heard Moka announce from his position in the sky.

"Alright a party!", I whistled loudly.

 _Later that evening…_

The party was in full swing. The food was delicious, the company was amazing and it was wonderful to see the villagers so happy. Natsu was going nuts, eating a bunch of fire off of the torches, while Lucy and Erza talked to the villagers. Stella and Happy sat in a corner, both of their faces eating succulent fish.

I stood from my position next to Erza and walked over to Gray, who was sitting by himself against a fencepost. I walked over and slid down next to him.

"Oh, hey Aquila.", Gray said as I sat next to him.

"Hey yourself. How're you holding up?", I asked, motioning to his abdomen, which was covered in bruises.

"Well enough, how about you, are you o-", Gray went to respond but was interrupted by a group of demon women.

"Hey, you're looking better than earlier.", The lead one, a blue demon girl =, said with a smile.

"Do I know you?", Gray asked with a frown as I struggled not to roll my eyes. I knew exactly what was coming for Mr. I can't keep my shirt on.

"Maybe this will help.", The girl shifted into her human form, revealing her to be Lulu, the girl who had directed us to Erza's tent earlier.

"I remember you.", Gray stated

"I look a little different now huh?", She grinned and the urge to roll my eyes intensified.

"Just so you know, every girl in out village has totally fallen for you, because we think you're like the coolest guy ever!", One girl crouched next to him, wiggling like a worm and blushing bright red.

"Yeah, she's right. We think you're super awesome, Gray!", a second one leaned down next to him.

"But you probably think we're cuter in our human forms, don't you?", a third flung the accusation at him.

God, what was it with girls that they liked to throw themselves at Gray. Not like popsicle pants was all that special.

"No. That's not true. I think you ladies look fine the way you are.", Gray spoke slowly, with earnesty, which caused the females to go into overload mode.

"You've got to be the sweetest guy I've ever met!"

"You know just what to say to a girl!"

"Let's hit the dancefloor!"

The fangirling and high pitched voices got to me. With a loud harrumph, I stood up next to Gray and slung my arms around his waist.

"Sorry girls, he's claimed for the night. Better luck with Natsu, if Lucy lets you near him.", I gave a saccharine sweet smile then grabbed Gray's hand and began to drag him to the dancefloor.

"Hey, slow down Aquila, jeez, what was that all about?!", Gray demanded to know as we got to the dancefloor.

I regarded him with a doubtful face. "And I thought Natsu was obtuse.", I stated after a minute.

"Hey, don't compare me to that flame-brain! I'm not obtuse!", Gray growled as he yanked me closer on the dancefloor, as we began to dance to reverberating drums. **(A/N I Normally hate putting these in the middle of the chapter, but I wrote the next bit listen to Bamboleo by the Gipsy Kings, and I recommend listening to it while reading the next part)**

I spun away from Gray, as I began to sway to the music. I winked at the ice mage and gestured him for to join me. He rolled his eyes, but took my hand and the lead.

He and I swayed together for a moment, then he spun me out, and I extended out, and then spun back in, finding myself contained against him, our hands clasped and my arms crossed over my chest. I slid up against him for a minute and slid back down, my style more suited for a club or the guild hall than a feast but we made it work. He released one of my hands and by working together, spun me over one of his arms, as we began to get up close and personal. It was all in good fun, but I had notion that his chest was rather nice feeling. I shoved that idea into the back of my head and continued to dance.

He began to force me to back up as the music began to switch to something into something more salsa toned. Then we began to dance. He dipped me back, then pulled me back up and I broke away from him. I began to salsa solo as he watched me. I spun around and with a wink, I began to roll my hips and lean backwards, giving quite the show. Gray grinned at the unspoken challenge in my eyes and began to close in on me. As he placed his hands around my waist,and spun me as I extended back even further, my leg extended even further into the air. He swung me back upright and we twirled around several times and as the song ended he dipped me one last time, leaving me half-way bent to the ground and one of my legs pointing up to the sky.

The music halted and he quickly yanked me up as we saw the approach of two of Lyon's minions, Bushy brows and Pinky.

Erza stood up and directed a terse look at the two. "How can I help you?", she spoke the words through gritted teeth.

"You Fairy Tailers really are tough. The Cold Emperor is so banged up, he couldn't make it down here.", Bushy brows stated with a manic grin.

"So we have come in his place.", Pinky declared.

"Wait a minute, didn't Lyon tell you guys we were cool?", Lucy demanded to know as she shot to her feet.

"Yes, but we wanted to settle things with you ourselves.", Pinky said with a smile.

"Alright show me what you got!", Natsu's hand exploded into flames, as he grinned at them.

"Wait Natsu!", Bobo called out to him, "We appreciate all your help, but we can't depend on you all forever. It's our turn to defend our village."

"Normally I would agree with you gentlemen. But, I think it's best if I handle this one.", Erza stated as she strode towards the two.

"We meet again Titania of Fairy Tail. You gave poor Angelica quite a beating earlier.", Pinky stated with a smirk. I let go of Gray's hand and walked over to stand next to Erza.

"She seems like a formidable opponent, though the other one was horribly injured last night, she appears to not be too much of a bother.", Bushy brows commented with a grin.

I snarled at his commentary, "That's mighty big talk for some minions. Let me tell you since it seems your precious emperor was too afraid too, I was the one who laid the smack down on him and I'll do the same to you!"

Bushy brows let out a chuckle as he inspected me, and I snarled again, and felt my hair begin to crystallize into ice once more,

"Be careful, she can control inanimate objects!", Lucy called out.

"Don't even bother using magic with thick brows.", Natsu added in a bored tone.

"Well then, I guess we'll just have to do this the old fashioned way, right Erza?!", I called out as I shifted into a fighting stance,

"Indeed!", she responded as we moved in a flash, her moving for PInky, myself going for bushy brows.

I sent a vicious right straight into his face, no doubt breaking his nose on impact. He was out for the count. Erza swept into a kick that knocked Pinky down as well. I could hear the murmurs behind us as the demons realized what we could do.

"They knocked them down without any magic!", Lucy murmured, shocked.

"That's Erza and Aquila for you, they're the strongest!", Stella chirped and I stifled a smile.

"You two are truly amazing warriors.", Pinky said as she slowly rose to her feet.

"No kidding. We're no match for you.", Bushy brows said with a sad smile.

"So you guys didn't come here to fight?", Lucy asked, her voice rising with hope.

"I doubt this is going to make up for all the trouble we caused you, but we wanted to apologize in person.", Bushy brows said as he lowered his head.

"Oh so you guys came here to settle things in a good way!", Happy stated with an enlightened expression.

"The Cold Emperor told us everything. Thanks to you, we can finally let go of the pain Deliora caused us so many years ago.", Pinky said as she stared at her feet.

"You mean you were victims of Deliora too?", Gray asked as he stepped up to the rest of us.

"When we were children the monster ravaged our village. We watche dit murder all of our friends and family.", Bushy brows stated with heavy sorrow in his voice.

"The Cold Emperor had a plan to kill Deliora once and for all. That's why we joined him.", Pinky continued, her voice soft.

"You see, we wanted revenge and we were so focused getting it we never realized we were hurting innocent people.", Bushy brows and Pinky kept their eyes on the ground as they explained their tale.

As their tale finished, and they apologized Natsu popped up behind them with a grin. "Alrighty then! You guys should stay and join in on the feast!, he crowed into Pinky and Bushy Brows faces.  
"But we were enemies a few seconds ago!", Bushy Brows stated in shock.

"I don't think it's a good idea because I'm trying to watch my figure and-", Pinky's protest was cut off as Natsu wrapped an arm around each of their shoulders.

"Enough with the excuses! Live a little would ya?!", He cheered as he dragged them to a table. As we joined them, I smiled at Natsu's obnoxious way of including the rest of the night we feasted, and partied until we dropped.

We awoke the next morning to find that Pinky and Bushy Brows had disappeared. We shrugged and resumed our packing, for now that the mission was complete, we needed to return to the guild.

I crouched next to Gray, while he hissed like a snake as I dabbed antiseptic onto his wounds. "Hold still, you big baby!", I scolded him as he whined that he didn't need it. I gently moved the hair on his forehead aside to see a cut just above his eyebrow. I pursed my lips at it, "I think this one is going to leave a scar."

"Whatever, doesn't matter to me.", Gray blew it off, the insufferable jerk.

"But it's on your face!", Lucy exclaimed as she stood a little ways off from me.

"I don't mind having a few scars, as long as I can see them. It's the ones you can't see that sting.", Gray stated with a small smile as he stared at the ground. I ignored Natsu, Lucy and Gray as they began to bicker amongst themselves.

 _Oh Gray, if only you knew, that visible scars can be just as bad, can be physical manifestations of invisible scars…_

As we stood at the entrance to the village, Erza turned down the money on the behalf of everyone involved, however, she did accept the gate key for Lucy. I snickered as Natsu and Gray pitched a bitch-fit over the fact that they got no money.

We moved to the beach and then I had to admit, I was impressed, as we stared up at the pirate ship Erza had commandeered to carry her to the island, and take us off of it.

As we boarded the ship, I managed a half-hearted smile and wave, before I joined Natsu is up-chucking over the side of the boat, getting my sick all over the port side.

"Alas, Me ship!", The captain bemoaned his beloved ship as we set sail for Hargeon.

 _Two days later… Magnolia_

"We're home!", Natsu cheered as Happy flew loops around him.

"Feels nice to be back, and I'm in the mood for some beer, maybe Cana wants to go bar-hopping tonight!", I mused aloud as we made our way towards the guild.

"I'm bummed, all that time and hard work for some lousy gate key…", Gray moaned.

"Well, I'm sorry, but it wasn't an official job. Just be glad you got something.", Erza stated with a smile.

"She's got a point. Now quit your complaining!", Lucy declared with a smile.

"It's easy for you, Lucy. You got a key!", Stella purred from on top of Lucy's head. I had to admit, I was almost jealous, my cat had bonded with the celestial mage, and had taken to resting on her head like she usually did mine. Lucy began to bucer with Happy, Natsu, and Gray, albeit half-heartedly. I laughed at their antics as they were debating Sagittarius's looks. The sun was shining, the bells were ringing, it was a perfect day-

"Don't you all seem carefree?", a cold voice spoke from behind us. I froze and creaked around to see Erza standing there, in all here radiant fury. "It's almost as if you all have forgotten you face punishment when we get back to the guild."

As Lucy and the boys tried to plead their case with Erza, I grabbed Stella and then began to sneak away, hoping that if I made it to my house before she caught me, I could ice it over and hideout for a few weeks. I did not make it that far however.

I yelped as a sword appeared, hovering in front of my face. "Don't think I've forgotten you either, Aquila.", I drooped as I returned to Erza's side.

"Do you think Master's going to give us, _that punishment!_ ", Happy yelped as Erza glared at us.

"NO! JUST KILL ME NOW!", Gray howled, "I don't think I can live through it again.

I shivered at the thought of _that punishment._ I watched as Lucy began to panic as Natsu was dragged away by Erza. We followed like lambs to slaughter, knowing that to flee meant certain death, and to stay meant only a smaller chance of death. We made our way to the guild, all bracing ourselves for _that punishment._

 **A/N: Alright, the chapter ends here! Thanks so much for the patience and support, I'm sorry for the mini hiatus, but I do have a life outside of writing and October is always my busiest month. Thanks to you all for being so patient, I hope you enjoyed the extra long chapter! Remember to review!**


	15. Chapter 15

_Previously on…_

 _I shivered at the thought of that punishment. I watched as Lucy began to panic as Natsu was dragged away by Erza. We followed like lambs to slaughter, knowing that to flee meant certain death, and to stay meant only a smaller chance of death. We made our way to the guild, all bracing ourselves for that punishment._

When we finally arrived at the guild, we naturally entered with a bang. "Where is Master?!", Erza demanded to know form Mirajane.

"You're finally back from your island getaway. So, how was it? Did you have fun?", Mirajane asked with a smile.

"It was work, not a vacation.", Erza stated icily. I held in a a laugh as Lcy tried to get Mirajane to shut up. Lucy didn't get it, it was not only because of Erza's anger towards us, but because of their rivalry. Mirajane liked to piss Erza off, and Erza always took the bait. Of course, it could also be said to work in reverse.

"Where is Makarov?!", Erza demanded to know once again.

"He went off for some last-minute council meeting. He's been gone since yesterday.", Macao chimed in. At the news, Gray, Natsu, Lucy, Happy, Stella, and I all let out sighs of relief. There wouldn't be _that_ punishment, at least not today.

"Well, that was a close one.", Natsu grinned at the thought of narrowly escaping punishment.

"Yes, we won't have to deal with that until Gramps gets back!", Gray agreed.

I hide my smile at their unintentional agreement, it never ceased to amaze me when it happened on casual matters. "Thank goodness for small miracles.", I sighed in relief then patted Stella's head as she plopped down on my head.

"Aquila, I'm-", Stella was interrupted mid-sentence by a big yawn, which conveyed the rest of her message rather effectively.

"It's fine, Stella. Go home and rest, I'll be there late tonight, I'm probably going out with Cana.", I grinned as my sleepy little exceed fluttered off and out the door and almost bumped into the door.

I slid over to Cana and wrapped my arm around her shoulders, "Hey there gorgeous, how's about you and me getting a few drinks and going on a pub-crawl tonight? I could use one after the mission I've had!", I grinned at my best friend as she looked up from her beer.

"Yeah! You and I haven't gone on a pub-crawl in forever. Just let me finish this barrel or two babe, and then we are out of here!", Cana whooped as she gave me a flirtatious grin. I winked back at her with a grin. She and I made an amazing duo. I sat down next to her, and waved at Mira, who grinned and brought me a tankard of beer. I took a long draft of it as Erza started to yell at the other three. I grinned as I clinked my tankard with Cana's barrel. I had escaped her notice for now.

"Now listen up you fools! Aquila, that includes you! You broke guild rules by taking on that S-class quest, Prepare to to punished!", Erza scolded us. Gray and Natsu began to clinging to each other in fear, as I knocked back another draft. I wasn't too afraid of Erza's punishment, nothing could compare to _that._

"Nice knowing you!", Wakaba yelled out from behind Erza. "It's a crying shame,those boys and Aquila are one thing but I can't believe Lucy's getting punished, too. That poor girl."

"What's that supposed to mean?", Lucy whimpered.

I shot a glare at Wakaba and he ducked behind Macao who went pale at my gaze. I was not to be lumped into Natsu and Gray's group! Natsu and Gray felt much the same apparently as they started to advance on Wakaba, only to end up arguing and fighting with each other.

"A big part of of being a man is owning up to your actions. You hear that you two? You need to man up!", Elfman as we all watched Natsu and Gray go at it, and Happy and Lucy panic at the coming punishment.

After Natsu and Gray got bored of fighting, they walked over to the job board and began to look at requests. I ignored them however and went back to talking with Cana.

"So gorgeous, you ready to get out of here?", I grinned as I drained the rest of my tankard.

"You know it, Aquila. Let's hit the bars!", Cana and I cheered and stood to walk out the door. However, I felt a icy-hot presence behind us and I turned around to see Erza there glaring at us.

"And just where do you think you're going?!", Erza thundered.

I turned a pout on my partner, "Come Erza, it's just a little pub-crawl, I'm not even leaving town!", I whined.

"No, you are to stay here until Master arrives. Cana is free to leave if she wishes, but you are to remain here!", Erza growled. I sighed, there really was no other choice in the matter. I leaned on Erza's shoulder and began to whisper in her ear. WIth each word, her face got redder and redder. When I had finished, I leaned back with a smirk and was rewarded with Erza looking like she might faint any second. Now that she was thoroughly distracted, I linked arms with Cana and we sauntered out of the guild.

"So I gotta ask, what did you say to her? It looked like her brain had melted.", Cana asked with a laugh.

I grinned in response, "I only said just a few things regarding a collection of books in her room that until now, she had no clue I knew were there.", Cana stared at me with a confused expression before it clicked.

"Oh, so Erza likes to read things, does she? Man that's awesome!", Cana let out another laugh, "Let's hit the pubs!"

I cheered as we continued down the street, heading for our favorite mage-friendly pub, Alice's Brewery. As we strode down the street, giggling like little girls in excitement, I felt somewhat nostalgic, remembering how this was was how it was on our way into the guild.

As I fell silent, I looked over at Cana, who was staring at me with a frown. "What? Why're you staring at me?", she asked.

I let out a small laugh at her frown, "Just remembering the day we met. Do you remember how excited you were to meet someone on their way to Fairy Tail?", I asked her.

"Yeah, I remember, I thought your magic was the coolest thing I had ever seen. I also remember telling you to stop telling me what to do.", Cana smirked at me as I let out a laugh.

"I remember that now, I was such a stuck-up little kid, I was all like I'm 4 years older, so I'm in charge, that makes me the boss!", I let out another burst of laughter remembering my younger self. I had been so entitled. When I had met a 6 year-old Cana on the way to Fairy Tail and invited her to join with me, I had been determined to take care of her, but only succeeded in being a complete witch!

"But, you always took care of me… I was never worried when I was with you.", Cana said in a small voice.

I gave a soft smile at her words. "Remember that night?", I asked her with a soft voice as we slowed to a stop next to the canal.

"How could I forget? From that night on, I was never ever worried with you again, I knew you'd always come through for me.", Cana whispered, then smirked, "Even if you could be a right pain in the ass sometimes."

I slung my arm around her and pulled her into a tight hug. Cana and I were the two of the three oldest members of our generation of Fairy Tail. Only Laxus had been around Fairy Tail longer than we had. I had met Cana while on the road, after… after what had happened with Isole, my dragon.

 _I had been walking for days now. Those with wagons wanted nothing to do with a strange kid with fangs. It had started raining, I was soaked and miserable, and more than ready to take it out on someone. Isole had provided everything for me by stealing it off of clotheslines or making it herself, so I had no money. It was while in this foul mood I came across a small girl, huddling under some trees, trying to stay dry._

 _I felt a sliver of pity go through me, and I walked over to the girl under the tree. "Are you lost?", I asked the girl, her eyes wide as she stared up at me. She seemed shocked, and didn't respond. I huffed and glared down at her. "Troublesome kid."_

 _I slid down on the ground next to her, and then with only minor difficulty, I extended my magic into my arm, which turned to ice, then spread the ice in a dome over us, keeping us dry, if not a little cold. "WOW!", the little girl had exclaimed, the first words she had spoken to me. "You can do magic?!", she looked delighted at her discovery. I had to give a little smile at that, her enthusiasm was infectious._

" _Yep, and I'm going to a guild!", I added with a grin._

" _Me too!", the little girl exclaimed, then slid over to cuddle against me. I froze at the affection, I was unused to it. Isole hadn't… believed in physical affection. It was strange to have someone cuddle me. "You're nice. Can I stay with you?", the little girl had whispered, as she fell asleep, despite her wet clothes and the cold. I had stared down at the little girl in shock. Someone wanted to stay with me?_

 _I nodded and whispered, "You can stay with me forever.", then hesitantly threaded my arms around the little girl, and fell asleep, my cheek resting against the top of her head._

 _The next morning, I had awoken and found the girl still asleep in my arms and she was burning up. I was immune to the cold, it hadn't bothered me, but I was struck with panic for this little girl who had wanted to stay with me. I didn't know how to fix it, I didn't know how to make her better._

 _So, with fear in my heart, I had hoisted the little girl whose name had yet to learn onto my back, and started to run. I needed to get her to a town. I was a dragon slayer, I didn't get sick from something that had to do with my element, and I didn't understand how to help a little girl. So, I pumped my legs all the harder and ran for the nearest town, that must've been at least 6 miles away._

 _When I got to the town, I asked for a doctor and the lady selling flowers had told me to see the Priest of the local church. I had staggered into the church while the priest was lighting candles, and I panted out, "My friend, she's, she's sick, I don't know what's wrong, help her." The priest had rushed forward and lifted the girl into his arms as I passed out on the floor of the sanctuary._

"When you woke up, all you could do was bug the priest about seeing me. You actually refused to leave me. And when you saw that I was okay, the first thing you did was pull me into a huge hug worthy of any big sister and ask me what my name was.", Cana stated softly as we stared into the canal.

"Of course, I wasn't about to leave the little girl I met on the road behind. I waited until you could leave and then we set out for Fairy Tail.", I spoke just as softly as we reminisced the day we joined the guild.

" _We're here, we're here!", Cana chanted as she held my hand to keep her tethered to the surface of the planet._

" _We're here.", I smiled down at the little girl that I had protected as my own on this journey of ours._

 _As we stood outside the entrance of the guild, the strongest wizard in Fairy Tail, Gildarts Clive walked out, pausing to look at us._

" _Hey little ladies, what're you doing outside a place like this?", He asked, and Cana seemed as awestruck as I was. "Better hurry on home, hang around here too long and your close will start to reek like booze.", Gildarts said as he strode away. I huffed while Cana looked sad. I frowned at her expression and hugged her close._

" _Don't listen to that still man said, Cana, we're going to go join the best guild there is!", I exclaimed with a smile. She gave me a small smile and then we entered the guild._

 _From there, Master met us and was happy to let us join the guild, and laughed when I whooped loudly as the guild emblem was placed on my chest, and Cana smiling when her mark was stamped on._

"Alright, enough reminiscing.", I said, and Cana gave me a small smile. "We've got a pub to drink dry.", I said with a little more enthusiasm. Cana gave a grin at that and we set off for Alice's Brewery.

 **A/N: Alright, alright, alright! Another chapter published, this time revealing Cana and Aquila's close bonds! Don't forget to leave me a review and tell me what you thought of it! Thanks to my reviewers, and I look forward to next week's update!**


	16. Chapter 16

_A few days after the return from Galuna Island…_

I was down in the archives, filing some paperwork for Master, as part of my unusually light punishment for letting Natsu, Gray, and Lucy go to Galuna. I was in the middle of sorting through some damage reports for one of Natsu's earlier missions when I overheard Lucy and Mira talking in the main room of the library.

"And then he just stormed off! What a jerk right?!" I heard Lucy stay as I walked around the corner to find Lucy helping Mira sort through some stuff.

Mira laughed at Lucy's disgruntled expression, "Maybe. But that's what makes him so cute!"

"You really think so, Mira? My, my, my, I didn't think you went for younger men." I called out from where I leant against the wall.

Mira turned to face me, "Maybe. But I bet Lucy it attracted to his boyish charms, and so are you I bet!"

I glared at Mira as Lucy started to splutter. "Trust me Mira, I don't mind younger men, but idiot flame brains aren't my type." the she-devil merely let out another giggle, then froze when Lucy slipped off of the ladder.

"Lucy!" Mira and I rushed over to where she had landed in a pile of books. Lucy let out a weak laugh as Mira frantically checked her over.

"I'm fine, sorry about that." Lucy said, then furrowed her eyebrow when she saw a book she had landed on. "Hey what's this? I found an old painting." Lucy flipped a piece of paper over to reveal a picture Reedus had painted of us all as children, the day Happy and Stella had hatched.

"Oh, I remember that!" Mira stated with a grin.

"Is this everyone when they were kids?" Lucy asked us.

"It sure is", Mira stated with a grin.

"This must be Gray." Lucy pointed to a young Gray, naturally stripped down to his boxers. "But who's that? Is that Cana?" she looked at a sweet-eyed brown haired girl, ah memories before the guild corrupted her. "Whoa, is that Macao and Wakaba?! They look so young!" the resident guild bums drinking even then, and then she pointed out Natsu with a grin. "What's with the little, blue dragon, and the cute, little, orange dragon?"

"The blue one is Happy, and the orange one is Stella!" I said with a grin. Lucy looked shocked, then contemplative.

"I don't know if either of you knows this but, how did Natsu and Happy first meet?" Lucy asked.

"Let me think…" Mira said before launching into the story of how the slayers met their cats. I grinned at the shared memory, remembering the day…

 _I had been out with Erza that morning, we had just been at an ice cream parlor, spending our latest missions' money on ice cream cone after ice cream cone, when we hear a commotion in the park next to the shop. With a sigh, we paid and walked outside to find, surprise, surprise, Natsu and Gray going at it once again._

 _"Alright, that's enough out of you!" Erza stepped in between the two of them, and sent them both flying apart. Gray and Natsu spring back up and begin to yell abuse at Erza, then lunge at her, resulting in her knocking them down with one blow. I merely smirk as I lean against the tree in the park, it never gets old, watching her beat those two morons in one hit._

 _"Now behave, no more fighting!" she declares as they lie on the ground, nearly unconscious. They all always fought like cats and dogs._

 _A few days after that, I had been walking in the East Forest, on my way back from a job, when I had found Natsu beating a tree half to death. I noted with some amusement he had stuck pictures of Erza, Gray, and myself upon it. He threw his all into one punch, and hit the tree so hard, the entire thing shook. I sighed and emerged from behind some trees when he howled because his hand was throbbing._

" _You need to be more careful!" I chided him as I held his hand in my own hand turned to ice, helping to bring down the swelling. He merely pouted and turned his head. I sighed once again and prepared to scold him some more, when two eggs fell from the foliage above us, falling on TOP of us. We rolled out from under the eggs, and stared in amazement, at the two eggs as long as our torsos._

" _Aquila, Aquila, they must be dragon's eggs! We better hatch them!" Natsu had cheered. I had stared at him in disbelief as he picked up his egg and ran off to the guild with it. I stared at this white egg with orange swirls on it. A dragon's egg? There was just no way. I sighed and left it where it was, it was probably just a strange bird's egg, and I wouldn't want to take the egg from its mother. I had seen what it did to a mother when she lost her children._

 _I strode back into the guild, just in time to see Mira and Erza start to fight once more. And Gray was in his boxers in front of my (almost) baby sister. I knocked him on the head as I passed by, barking a command for him to put some clothes on._

" _I've been looking for you, Erza!" Mira had swung around in her way too skimpy clothes for a 14 year-old. "Why don't we pick up where we left off?! Come and get some!" she waved her hand in a challenge towards Erza, who grinned._

" _You know Mira, now that you mention it, we never did finish our match, did we?!" Erza smirked and angry, powerful auras began to emanate off the two of them._

" _I'm gonna bury you alive!" Mira roared as she leapt for Erza._

" _You're going to beg for mercy!" Erza screamed as she ran for Mirajane._

 _With a sigh, I stepped in between the two, intercepting their fists and throwing them both back._

" _What do you want, Popsicle?!" Mira yelled at me._

" _Stay out of this Aquila!" Erza practically snarled. They both aimed a punch at me, when I held up an iced over arm that they promptly hit, then fell into a heap, because if you've ever hit solid ice, you'd know, it feels like punching a brick wall. I sighed and went over to sit with Cana and Elfman._

" _Aw what's a matter, Elfman?" Cana asked as she slid in next to me, and I passed her a juice, she was too young to drink yet._

" _My little sister's perfected the full body takeover, but I'm still having trouble with it. I'm a sucky wizard." Elfman sulked across the table._

 _I tuned out their conversation, more interested in watching Erza and Mira to make sure they weren't destroying the guild hall, but tuned back in after hearing Elfman say he wished for an egg like them. I sighed, what a bother._

" _Elfman.", I stated firmly, getting his attention, "If you would like to raise and egg so badly, there is another one I found in the forest. We can go find it and help it hatch together."_

" _R-really? You'd do that for me?" Elfman whispered with a small smile on his face. I sighed, then gave him a nod. I was a sucker for the younger kids, someone had to be, when they had role models like Laxus, Wakaba, and Macao._

" _I really would. Cana, you want to help?" I asked my ward, fussing with her bangs until she shooed my hands away._

" _No, I'm fine, thanks. Macao and Wakaba got me these cool cards, and said I could learn magic with them. I need to practice though." She explained with a smile on her face. I ruffled her hair and plopped a quick kiss on her forehead before saying good-bye. I called out to Elfman to join me and we made for the East forest._

" _Thanks for letting me help you! I'll make sure to help you take real good care of the egg!" Elfman enthused as we walked along. I smiled at him and thanked him for helping while feeling a kernel of guilt inside of me. I was going to leave that egg in the forest and never think of it again, if Elfman hadn't said something._

 _I ruffled his hair, "No problem Elfman, you know, I'm the one who should be thanking you. I couldn't do it alone, the egg's going to need an Uncle's touch." I cocked a smile at a bright-eyed Elfman, who grinned back and gave me a thumbs-up._

 _As we approached the scene of where the egg was, we found a beat-up Natsu, an unconscious forest vulcan, Lisanna, and the two eggs, all thankfully unharmed (well, except Natsu, but that kid could take a beating from Erza, that makes him practically invincible)._

" _Are you two alright?!" I called out as Elfman and I sprinted over to them, Elfman making a beeline for Lisanna._

" _We're okay, thanks to Natsu! And he beat the vulcan without using magic!" Lisanna chirped. I sighed in relief as Elfman fussed over Lisanna for a moment._

" _Ugh, what's happening?" Natsu grumbled as he came out of it. I iced my hand over and sat it on top of his head, which was covered in bruises from the vulcan's attack._

" _You sure are tough kid, not many as young as you could take on a forest Vulcan without magic and live to tell the tale." I said with a grin. "But I would expect no less from a fairy tail wizard."_

 _Natsu beamed at the praise then frowned as he looked up at the sky. "It's going to rain soon. Lisanna! We need to get the egg back to the shelter!" He called out to Lisanna before standing up._

" _You're right! Thanks for checking on us Aquila, Elf, we've gotta run!" Lisanna gasped before she and Natsu promptly ran off into the forest. I sighed in exasperation at their impetuousness, before turning to Elfman._

" _Well, I don't think that it's good for the egg to be caught in the rain. Shall we get her back to my house?" I asked Elfman, gesturing to the egg._

 _Elfman gave me a small smile and shook his head. "I won't be helping you. Natsu and Lisanna are smart but, they don't know everything about raising an egg. I think they need my help more than you." Elfman gave me a small, sad smile, "I know you only asked me to help because you felt bad about my parakeet. Don't worry about it, and thanks for being nice to me." He turned to follow Natsu and Lisanna into the forest, calling out over his shoulder, "Thanks a lot, Aquila! Have fun raising that egg." I stared in shock at Elfman as he left, then looked at the egg in incredulity._

 _I actually glared at the egg for a moment, before turning on my heel to leave it. The only reason I came back in the first place was because Elfman had wanted an egg._

 _I started to walk away when I heard a knock. I froze and turned around to see the egg, practically bouncing, trying to come towards me. I sighed and returned to the egg, placing my head on it and hearing a patter of knocks in response. I had to give a small grin at that. Then with a sigh, I picked the egg up carefully and felt the being inside settle, before turning to walk home._

 _After I got home, I turned up the heat to where any normal human being wanted it to be, which was to the point of where I felt like I was dying of heat, and covered the egg in blankets. I stripped so that I could cool off some and kept the egg beside me, a quiet companion as long as it was close enough to touch me. I ended up falling asleep, curled up on top of the egg next to me._

 _The next morning, I walked into a guild wracked by chaos. "That's it, you're going down!" Natsu yelled as he yanked on Mira's hair._

" _Oh yeah? Bring it on!" Mira yelled back as she tossed Natsu off of her. I ducked, guarding the egg with my body as I strolled up to the bar, where the Master sat with Macao and Wakaba._

 _I placed the egg on the stool next to me, before grabbing a beer over the side of the counter. I kept a careful watch on Erza and Mira as they seemed about ready to get into it. The tension was released however temporarily, when Elfman showed up with the egg. Natsu and Lisanna were happy, Cana and Gray relaxed, and I sent a glare towards Erza and Mira when they started to argue, causing them to simmer down._

 _Everything was interrupted however, when cracking noises could be heard in the guild. First I looked to Natsu's egg, where cracks could be seen appearing in the top, then to my own, where they were creeping across the sides._

 _Natsu's egg hatched first, sending a blue glowing thing into the air. When the glow faded, a flying, blue cat was revealed. It fluttered down and landed on Natsu's head. As everyone began to coo over the new cat, christened Happy, I watched my own egg. It cracked and there was no explosive hatching like Happy's. Instead the little ball was orange and it tumbled out of the egg and into my lap. I watched as a small, orange cat looked up at me and purred. I lifted her up to my cheek, and nuzzled her head, eliciting another purr from this tiny cat's mouth._

" _Stella. I'm going to call you Stella!" I whispered as the kitten wriggled out of my arms and onto my shoulder, then my head. I harrumphed as the tiny kitten purred once again. Great, first Cana, now Stella, I was making a bad habit of picking up tiny, cute things._

I was brought out of my reverie as Mira finished explaining the story to Lucy.

"I see, that was a totally cute story. I really hate to see those two fighting though." Lucy commented on the tale.

"The closer two people are, the more they fight. It's fine." Mira stated with a smile, and I caught the undertones of sadness in her voice as she no doubt remembered Lisanna. I sighed as Master came bouncing around the corner.

"Yo Mira, could I have some help?" Master called from the top of the stairs.

"Of course." Mira called back, leaving Lucy and I with a smile and a wave.

I turned to Lucy to continue talking, when I heard Master bellow for me to get back to work. I gave Lucy an apologetic smile, and returned to the archives in the back. I sighed, remembering Lisanna, and how wonderful she had been.

I finished up my paperwork after a few hours and emerged from the archives. I called out good byes to everyone as I scooped Stella up form where she was talking to Mira at the counter and we left. I looked down at Stella, as she peered up at me.

"What's a matter, Aquila? You're awfully quiet." Stella frowned from where she was and I laughed at my cat.

"I'm fine. Just remembering the day we met, and how happy I was to have found you." I whispered into my cat's ear, nuzzling closer to her.

"I'm glad you came back for me.", Stella whispered back.

"Me too." I added with a smile, as we strode through Magnolia.

 **A/N: I'M SO SORRY! I know this should have bene out Sunday, but I was SOOOOOOO busy. Forgive me, expect a new chapter on Monday for next week since I'm out of town all weekend, and don't forget to read and review!**


	17. Chapter 17

I strode into to town, laughing at Gray's grumpy expression. He groaned as Natsu launched into another round of praise for the "awesome job", we had just completed. In reality it had been a simple extermination mission, which could've easily been accomplished by any member from the guild alone. Natsu, however, insisted that as a team, we must all complete missions together, a sentiment echoed fully by Erza.

I burst into another round of laughter as Natsu and Gray began to bicker once more.

"That's enough, boys!" Erza declared as she stepped in between the two. "Now please get dressed." she directed her next statement who looked down at himself in wide-eyed horror.

"For crying out loud, why is this always happening to me?!" He exclaimed, as he began to pick up his discarded clothes once more and get dressed. I covered Stella's eyes as she asked if Gray was being a pervert again, which made me laugh so hard I fell down on the pavement and started rolling around.

"I hate to interrupt, but when I took this mission, I was intending it to be more of a solo mission so, why'd y'all have to come along?" Lucy asked, a sliver of exasperation leaking into her voice. I leveled my stare at Natsu, as did Erza and Gray.

"Aw, come on. Isn't it obvious?" Natsu stated, causing Lucy to stare at him in skepticism. "We're Fairy Tail's strongest team, so we've got to stick together!"

"At least that's the argument he gave when he persuaded me to abandon my break and my plans to go drinking with Cana for this." Erza jabbed me in the elbow for my comment and I let out a wheeze. Damn, she got a lot stronger from when she was 11 and I used to separate her and Mira with one hand behind my back.

"Yeah we are!" Lucy smiled and clutched Plue close.

"No job is too tough. Not for me, Erza, Aquila, and Droopy drawers over here!" Natsu proclaimed.

"We are a capable bunch." Erza stated with a nod.

"You forgot about me!" Lucy yelled at us. I giggled at her pouting expression as Natsu tried to reassure she was part of the team. She hadn't figured out that we were just teasing her.

"Aquila, why is everyone staring at us?" Stella whispered, tugging on my hair to draw my attention to the townspeople who were just staring at us and whispering.

"That's what I'd like to know." Gray asked as we continued along.

"It almost feels like… pity. But why-" Erza cut herself off as we saw the bizarre formation. It looked like the guild had grown spikes in our absence, what the hell was going on?!

"Why did does the guild look so bizarre?!" Erza stated as we all froze for a moment. Then without ever speaking we all ran for the guild, wondering what had happened to our beloved guild hall.

As we turned the corner, we came to a halt and could only stare at the guildhall in horror.

"No way…" Gray murmured.

"What's happened to it?" Erza said in horror.

"I don't understand…" Lucy whispered.

"Who the hell did this?!" I yelled. The guild was struck through with several iron poles, each as thick as pine trees.

"Our guild." Natsu's shoulders were shaking with rage, "Someone did this to our guild!"

"But who would do such a thing?" Erza said aloud. No one had the answer so I took a deep whiff of the air, trying to catch a scent. The metal was so close though, the heavy metallic scent covered everything. I could barely smell Stella and she was on top of my head.

"It was Phantom." a voice called from behind us. We all turned to see Mirajane standing there.

"Are you sure?" I asked, Phantom was full of idiots but surely they weren't dumb enough to attack us in broad daylight like this.

"Yes. We couldn't do anything to stop them. They got us good." Mirajane whispered, her voice full of pain and anguish. She led us to the cellar doors of the hall, revealing that the basement and library were undamaged, allowing the guild to still function.

Mira led us to Master, who was sitting on a barrel, drunk as a skunk, and still drinking.

"Yo! What's up kids?!" Master slurred.

"Sorry we weren't here sooner." Erza apologized and I nodded.

"Why the heck are you all just sitting around down here?!" Natsu yelled at Master, who ignored him in favor of asking Lucy how the job had gone.

"Master, Natsu's right, why are we down here?! Is there no counterattack being planned?!" I demanded to know.

"The guild hall has been completely destroyed!" Natsu exclaimed, the pain and rage in his voice evident.

"Now now, there's no need to get yourselves all worked up. It's not the end of the world or anything." Master drawled before taking another draft of his tankard. "Just goes to show you how cowardly those dunderheads in the Phantom Lord guild really are. They attacked when no one was here, is that anything worth bragging about?"

"Nobody was here?" Erza asked, her eyes darting to Mirajane for confirmation.

"It was after everyone had already left for the night." Mira responded, her voice still quiet and dull.

"I suppose that's good, that no one was hurt in the attack." Erza stated, her voice dulling as well.

"We shouldn't trouble ourselves worrying about people who don't even have the courage to face us head on. Forget about those fools!" Master stated, taking another draft. But from his heavy drinking, I wagered that he was just as upset as we were, but was merely trying to hold it together for us.

Natsu's fist hit the wooden crate next to him, sending splinters everywhere. "Ain't going to happen Gramps! We can't just let them trash our place and get away with it!" Natsu yelled his face red with anger.

Master ignored Natsu outburst and left. Natsu started to grumble about his attitude when Mira interrupted him. "Listen, this is just as hard on him as it is on you. He's mad, but conflict between the guilds is strictly forbidden by the council."

"It's not fair! Those phantom creeps started it!" Natsu roared.

"I know but that doesn't matter." Mira whispered.

"If the Master's decision is not to retaliate… then we must respect it." Erza whispered quietly.

I growled under my breath. There was no way we could sit there, and just let this insult pass by. Lucy left after a moment, saying she needed to return to her apartment.

"We all decided we should pair up, so no one is alone in case anything happens." Mira said as we watched Lucy leave.

"I'll go with her.", Natsu and Gray said at the same time, then glared at each other.

"Who said you could protect anyone droopy drawers?!" Natsu glared as he got in Gray's face.

"I can do anything better than you, ash for brains!" Gray yelled back.

"Enough." Erza said, separating them with a flick of her gauntlets. "We will all go to Lucy's together." She began to drag the boys towards the door, pausing when she realized I wasn't with them. "Aquila, are you not coming?"

"I'll be there shortly, Erza. Stella, go on and go with them." I nudged her in Erza's direction and Stella waved back at me then flew to catch up with Happy. I waved in response, a smile covering my face, before fading once they disappeared.

I surreptitiously checked before slipping into the archives. I made for the maps section, and found an atlas, one that had all current guilds on it. I tore it out of the book, and put it in my pocket. I slipped the book back into place and then slinked back into the basement. Pasting on a cheerful smile, I waved goodbye to Mira.

I exited the guild hall and then made for my house. I grabbed my spare pack that I always kept back in case I had back to back missions. Then I turned to strike out for Phantom lord. I halted when I say who stood in my doorway.

"Gray.", I let out a growl as he stepped inside his expression cold.

"What good exactly, do you think you will do if you attack them head-on? And by yourself no less. Face it, you'd be killed, then we really would be in some deep shit!" Gray snarled at me and I roared back, punching a wall, causing cracks to form in the wood.

"Then what do I do, Gray?!" I questioned him furiously, throwing my anger at him. "Let them walk all over us, damage our reputation?! I refuse to let that happen, and if I must counterattack on my own then I will!" I moved to leave through the door but Gray seized my arm.

The temperature in the room dropped and I said in an icy voice, "Drop my arm, if you want to be a walking, talking person."

"I won't, Aquila! This is the stupidest plan I've ever heard! I won't let you do this!" Gray yelled, his face in front of mine. I glared at him and started channeling my ice towards his hand, freezing it over.

"You don't dictate what I do, Gray! And you sure as hell don't get to order me around." I glared, staring him directly in the eyes. I had been any closer, we would have been kissing. I shoved that thought down and wrenched my arm away from him. He let out a muffled curse as I swept down into sidekick that knocked him flat on his back.

"Don't try to stop me Gray, you won't succ-", I stopped talking and took a deep whiff of the air. Something was wrong. That metallic scent was moving, and it wasn't anywhere near the guild. I cocked my head and listened.

"What the hell is going on, Aquila?! Why are you- Mmph!" I covered Gray's mouth and let out a hiss. I could hear it, a scream, it sounded like… all the blood drained from my face. It sounded like Levy.

"Come on, Levy's is in trouble!" I yelled, grabbing Gray and hauling him to his feet. Then I took off in the direction of the sounds of her screams.

"What are you talking 'bout?" Gray yelled as I ran pell-mell for the center of Magnolia. "I didn't hear anything!"

"Never doubt a dragon slayer's nose or their ears! Levy is in trouble, we have to help her!" I yelled as we ran down the street, the sun beginning to peek over the sunrise. I hadn't realized how late it had been when I had left the guild.

I heard a cackle coming from the park and a yell, most likely coming from Jet or Droy. I slammed into a corner, as I made to turn in the direction of the park. I grimaced but kept running. Gray was behind me, I had left him at the entrance of town, running too fast for him to keep up.

"Gihi, I guess we are going to be interrupted soon. Consider this a parting gift." I heard a voice that grated like metal cackle. I swept into the park like a blizzard to find an iron-covered figure punch a metal rod into the giant oak that was in the center of the park. The tree held three figures upon it and I had a sinking feeling in my stomach.

"Oh if it isn't the Icy Damsel. How nice of you to join the party." the figure, Black Steel Gajeel of Phantom Lord, cackled. "Your friends were just dying to see you."

I covered my mouth at the sight that beheld me. Levy, Jet, and Droy, were crucified on the tree, the Phantom guild mark painted on Levy's stomach.

"BASTARD!" I screamed, and launched myself at his laughing figure, my fists coating themselves with ice. He leapt up into the tree, cackling.

"Sorry Damsel, my orders aren't to fight with the big fish. Best of luck to you, getting my nails out of your friends.", He cackled once more before clutching a lacrima to his guild mark, and vanished into thin air.

I let out a scream of rage and slammed my fists into the ground. The bastard, that _bastard!_ He wouldn't get away with this, I wouldn't let him!

"Aquila, what the… hell." Gray ran into the park and came to a stop beside me, his eyes widening in shock at our guild mates treatment.

"Get the master, NOW!" I yelled as I struggled to contain my fury. With a dazed nod, he turned and ran for the guild hall. I stood and gently touched the tree, allowing my ice to creep up its edges and coat the metal rods holding Team Shadowgear. I froze the edges of my feet into hard blades and climbed the tree, heading to Droy first. With a punch, I shattered the restraints on Droy and caught his unconscious body, before I realized that I had an audience.

I heard Lucy's gasp of shock and horror, and Natsu's rage filled voice. Then I heard quiet come over the crowd as footsteps approaching could be heard. It was Gray and the master. Gray headed for the tree, where I carefully lowered Droy down to him. I continued to free Jet and Levy while listening to Master's words.

"I can take the guild hall being reduced to rubble. But I will not let harm come to my children without taking revenge!" Master's staff snapped in his hands, and magical, golden power began to emanate from him. "We shall go to war!"

I finished lowering Levy to Gray, and they were rushed to the hospital for treatment. "Aquila!" master barked his eyes fixed on the team being rushed away.

"Yes Master?" I responded, my eyes fixed on his.

"Summon the guild, we move at noon, we move against Phantom." Master said, his eyes cold.

"With pleasure." stated grimly as I ran off to find the various members scattered throughout town. At noon, Fairy Tail went to war!

 **A/N: Alright another chapter done, and tensions are running HOT! Next update will be Sunday, back to the normal schedule, thanks for being patient with this slightly late update, I was out of town until yesterday night! So forgive its lateness, and don't forget to review!**


	18. Chapter 18

**A/N: Okay I'm starting with the author's note to say I'm sorry I didn't update last time, I have been absolutely crazy busy, so forgive me for that and please enjoy this quality update, detailing Fairy Tail's struggles with Phantom Lord.**

 _Previously on…_

" _Summon the guild, we move at noon, we move against Phantom." Master said, his eyes cold.  
"With pleasure." stated grimly as I ran off to find the various members scattered throughout town. At noon, Fairy Tail went to war!_

We marched through the center of Oak Town, home to one of Phantom's largest branches. Lucy had remained with Mirajane to watch over the guild and the town. The rest of the guild had assembled and now we marched on Phantom.

"Natsu!" Makarov barked as we approached the door to the branch.

"With pleasure." Natsu growled as he slammed a fist covered in fire into the door, splintering it apart.

"Fairy Tail has come calling!" Makarov called out as we let out a battle cry and rushed into the guild.

"Let's get them!" Gray let out a cry as we ran to do battle.

"Hey boys! Here's a kiss!" I blew my icy breath, covering several phantom wizards in ice.

I paused in my fighting to watch Master grow with his Titan magic and the Phantom wizards cower before him.

I turned my arms to ice and joined Erza in smashing apart the hordes.

"Tell me! Where can I find Gajeel and the Element 4?!" Erza roared. No one responded, so we continued to pummel these wizards whose guild had declared war on ours.

"Natsu! Aquila!" Erza yelled, directing our gazes to two elemental wizards, who most unfortunately used fire and ice magic. They fired at us and Laki was forced to dive out of the way. Natsu stepped in front and swallowed the flames whole.

"Now I've got a fire in my belly!" He grinned, as the ice wizard stepped forward.

"Take this!" He yelled sending a column of ice towards Natsu. I stepped in front and opened my mouth, converting the column to magic in my mouth. I sighed a she stumbled backwards, bewildered that Natsu and I could _eat_ their attacks.

"I'm going to blow you away!" Natsu roared, as he formed the magic circle to use his dragon's roar.

"I'm with you, Natsu!" I yelled, doing the same.

"Fire Dragon…"

"Ice Dragon…"

"ROAR!" We roared in unison and set our converging spirals straight into the crows, freezing then frying our enemies. I grinned at Natsu, then jumped back into the fray, turning my ice coated fists into long blades, an idea I had gotten from Erza.

I ended up back to back with Erza, Cana, Loke, Macao, and Wakaba.

"We've got them right where we want them!" Macao declared.

An explosion sounded from the staircase, and Master called out to us.

"Erza! Aquila! I leave the rabble to you." He commanded.

"Yes sir!" Erza and I responded as Master ascended to the top floor.

As we continued to fight, a cackle could be heard above the din. We turned as we heard it, and watched in shock as Black Steel Gajeel jumped from the rafters and landed, taking out some of Phantom's own wizards. He cackled once again as he destroyed his own teammates.

"Show me what you got, unless you're too scared to face the great Iron Dragon Slayer?" Gajeel taunted us. Elfman leaped at him, and held his own for about a minute, before Gajeel punched him. I moved to attack him, but Natsu beat me to it.

His flaming fist sent Gajeel hurtling back into Phantom's bar.

"Allow me to introduce myself. I'm one of Fairy Tail's Dragon slayers." Natsu said, his flaming fists held in a defensive position. "Elfman, leave this guy to me." As Elfman protested, Gajeel sent a club flying at Natsu, who caught it, and sent Gajeel flying back. "You destroyed our guild, you hurt Levy and her team. I'll make you PAY!"

Gajeel rebounded but was once again clobbered by Natsu. I leapt up and began to race for Natsu, who saw me approaching and threw out a hand. "No. He's mine, Aquila!"

I hesitated, then nodded, and returned to Erza's side in time to slam my icy foot into a guy's nose as he snuck up on her.

"Always watch your back, unless I'm here to watch it for you." I chided Erza as we stood back to back. Cana joined us within a moment as we faced the swarm coming at us.

"Cana, what do you think are our odds are?" I smirked as they approached.

"I don't know, I'd have to go with all or nothing!" Cana yelled as she activated her lightning card, electrocuting the first wave of attackers.

"Ice dragon's Icicle tempest!" I yelled sending out an array of icicles, pinning several Phantoms down.

As the building began to shake, I smirked. The giant's wrath had come at last.

"Prepare to fight! With master Makarov at our side, we cannot lose!" Erza called out and we rallied, and began to fell more of Phantom's members.

I switched from my hands-turned-blades back into fists and began to punch my way through the members, when a loud crash came from above, and something landed hard.

I felt the blood drain out of my face as the smoke cleared and Master was revealed. He was a shade of green and seemed fragile and weak.

"Master!" Erza cried out. I ran over to him and knelt down, and shifted Master into my arms.

"What happened to him?!" Cana knelt beside us, Erza, Natsu, Gray, and Happy joining within moments.

"I don't know, but I don't sense any magic energy." Gray stated with a worried expression. The guild began to murmur, and gather around us. I passed Makarov to Elfman, and stood when I heard the murmurs coming from Phantom. Master's defeat was a rallying point and with a cry, Phantom charged on us.

Three wizards let out an attack and it hurtled towards… CANA!

"CANA!" I screamed as I charged towards her, hurtling through the crowd. I felt like the blood had left my body when I heard the explosion and her scream. I let out a gasp once the smoke had cleared, revealing how Macao had placed himself in front of her, shielding her from the attack. I didn't have time to help them though, they were closing in on me. I hardened my back to ice as I felt a sword from one of its members shatter as it hit my ice. I turned and knocked him out with a punch, but more were coming.

As I fended off more members, and had to watch my back while doing it, I heard Erza call for the retreat. "No way! Erza, we can't give in to them!" I cried out, jumping up to avoid an attack and sending icicles into the crowd. Others called out their resolve and Erza shot them down.

"We can't stay, we don't stand a chance against Jose! Now retreat, that's an order!" Erza commanded. "Everybody out!"

As the other members began to flee, I stayed sending out waves of ice, to help provide cover for us, ensuring no one was left behind.

"I'm not going back yet! I won't leave until I get revenge!" Gray yelled, determination with an edge of desperation coating his voice. I ran up to Gray and grabbed his arm, forcing him to look me in the eye.

"You wouldn't let me throw away my life trying to defeat them by myself. I refuse to let you do the same." I held his gaze, as emotions war in his eyes. Then, I saw the figure behind him fire a magic bullet and I threw Gray out of the way. I let out a cry as the bullet pierced my left shoulder. I fell to my knees and cupped my hand over my shoulder, hissing as my fingers came away bloody.

"AQUILA!" Gray yelled as a wave of ice swept the mage away. He ran over and scooped me up in his arms, carrying me like a princess. "You idiot! Why did you do that?!" He cried out, his eyes full of anger and rage. I let out a forced grin.

"Because you would've done the same for me."

"You moron!" He yelled, but his hands betrayed how he really felt, they cradled me like I was something precious, and he took care not to jostle my arm. I blushed, and I looked down as Gray fled with everyone else, leaving the Phantom guild in the distance.

"Typical, you'll do anything to get your way, even get shot. Idiot." Gray muttered as we ran and I aimed a weak smile at him.

"You know I always get what I want, Gray." I grinned and he rolled his eyes. "Also Gray?"

"Yeah?" He said, taking his eyes off where he was going to look at me for a moment.

"Don't freak out." I said as I passed out.

 **A/N: Well, I hope that was worth the wait! Again sorry for missing last week's update but alas sometimes life calls! Look forward to the next chapter that will be published next** _ **MONDAY.**_ **Until then, Au revoir!**


	19. Chapter 19

_Previously on…_

 _"You know I always get what I want, Gray." I grinned and he rolled his eyes. "Also Gray?"_

 _"Yeah?" He said, taking his eyes off where he was going to look at me for a moment._

 _"Don't freak out." I said as I passed out._

I woke up laying on a cot, Mira was bandaging my shoulder. I hissed as she tightened the bandage and she dropped the end of it, startled. "You're awake! Thank goodness, everyone has been so worried about you."

She finished tying the bandage on as I eased upright. I waved Mira off me as I stood up from the bed. "I'm fine now, thanks for patching me up. Now where's Erza? We have to coordinate the next attack." I stated as I made for the door. I stepped out, Mira close behind me to see a room full of bandaged wizards.

"Erza's cleaning up, and Natsu, Gray, and Lucy are over there." Mira pointed to the rest of Team Natsu minus Erza, all who appeared to be deep in conversation. "We discovered why we were targeted now of all times." Mira whispered softly, her eyes fixed on Lucy.

"Why?" My voice came out harsh and cold. "What justification do those bastards have for attacking us now of all times?"

"Lucy."

The word sent a chill through me. "What does she have to do with this? She's a sweet girl, I can't see her having pissed off the wrong person, she didn't even know what Phantom Lord was until this whole thing happened."

"She's Lucy Heartfilia. Her father is one of the richest men in Fiore, he hired Phantom Lord to bring her back to him after she ran away." Mira whispered, without dragon hearing I wouldn't have been able to hear her.

I was shocked. I had read magazine articles about "Lucky" Lucy Heartfilia. It was surprising, but it didn't matter. Lucy was a member of Fairy Tail, no matter who her father was. "It doesn't matter." I whispered to Mira, who looked at me in surprise. "It doesn't matter who she was or who her father is. What matters no is that she is Lucy Heartfilia of Fairy Tail, and we're not letting her go without a fight!" I said fiercely and Mira gave me a nod and a small smile.

Mira and I made our way over to a small corner bar we kept in the basement (Heavens know why). Cana flung yet another card down and then scattered them in frustration.

"Come on! I'm not getting any kind of read on where Mystogan is." she sighed in frustration then saw Mira and I approach. "You're awake. I'm glad you're on your feet. We'll need you." Turning to Mira, Cana made her report, I assumed she had been trying to track down Mystogan, Laxus, and Gildarts, the other three S-class mages of Fairy Tail. "I got Laxus on the lacrima, Mira you try to reason with him, because he makes me want to strangle him."

Nodding, Mira walked over to the lacrima as I stole one of Cana's bottles of beer and took a swig. Probably not the best thing for my condition, but such is life.

I tuned back into Mirajane and Laxus's conversation, when he started making perverted comments about Lucy. "You are such a pig!" Cana shouted at him, as the bottle of beer cracked in my hands.

"You sure you should be yelling at the guy you're asking to save you?! How 'bout this, if the geezer pulls through, tell him he's over the hill and he should pass the guild to me!" Laxus burst into cackles and Mirajane slammed the lacrima into the counter causing it to shatter.

Tears streamed down her face as she spoke through clenched teeth. "I don't understand, how can someone in Fairy Tail be so heartless and cruel? I can't just sit here and watch, I have to join the others and fight!" Mira turned and I grabbed her by the hand as she made to go join the group planning the next offense.

"Mira, you can't." I spoke gently but firmly. She hadn't been able to use magic since _that day._

"I feel useless, just sitting here at the guild hall. I want to help!" She pleaded as more tears streamed down her cheeks.

"We understand that, but you'd only get in the way as you are now." Cana stated softly as she placed a hand on Mira's shoulder. "Even if you were once an S-class wizard, you couldn't help now." Mira cast her a bitter look as I threaded my arms around the younger mage, letting her sob it all out. Fairy Tail needed to rally, with this air of desperation and depression, we would lose for certain.

Suddenly, a loud bang could be heard echoing throughout the basement, the rafters began to shake and dust was dislodged from the ceiling.

"It's outside!" Alzack called from the stair case. He and Bisca had been on watch from the top of the guild.

"Everyone outside! Prepare to fight!" I called out as I thundered up the stairs and out to the back of the guild that faced the lake. The guild poured out and stood shock at the object marching towards the guild hall.

"What is that thing?!" Natsu said in horror as he stared at what appeared to be a guild hall on robot legs marching towards us. As murmurs began to echo around us, the guild hall marched ever closer.

"I never anticipated this." Erza quivered as she stood in a towel at the forefront of our forces. She had been showering before the shaking had occurred. "I can't believe they would go to such extremes to attack us!"

"Erza!" I yelled, drawing her attention to me for a minute. "Focus. You and I are in charge with Makarov out of commission, we can't lose our heads!" I looked pleadingly into Erza's eyes as she took a deep breath to calm down.

We turned as a bay door opened from the Phantom's guild hall to reveal a huge cannon extending out, aiming straight for our guild. A black cloud of dark energy began to swirl around the end of it as the weapon charged.

"Get out of here now!" Erza ordered, turning to order the guild members to flee. The cloud began to swell, generating magic energy I could sense from in front of the guild.

Erza began to run for the edge to the bank, with me in pursuit. "What the hell are you doing?!" Macao yelled at us.

"Protecting my home!" I yelled as I turned to ice and Erza requipped into her adamantine armor. The rest of the guild members yelled protests at us as I formed around Erza, giving her another layer of protection against the Jupiter cannon.

"Stay Back!" Erza commanded. I couldn't see them, but I could hear Natsu and gray screaming for us.

As the cannon fired, Erza slammed her shields together, forming the spell Adamantine barrier. As an enormous magic circle appeared in front of her, another one, a smaller one of my making was layered over it. As Erza and I held the spell, we began to have to brace ourselves against the onslaught of the spell. Erza armor began to crack, as did my icy form. I needed to return to my original form if I didn't want to have to expend energy to form new ice pieces. I wouldn't though, I would hold on until I shattered if I had to. The guild hall needed saving, and only Erza and I could do it.

The blast let out one final shot of power loose, breaking Erza's armor and shattering me into pieces, albeit ones easier to reform. I gathered my pieces together into an incomplete figure, some of me had been blast away. I returned from the ice to a human body, broken, bruised and bleeding.

I landed next to Erza, who was breathing but unconscious. "Er-za." I croaked out as I made to crawl towards my partner. "I-is she okay?" I panted as Natsu raced over to her.

"She's fine, but are you out of your damn mind?!" Gray demanded angrily as he knelt beside me. He gently eased my up and I cried out, looking down to see that my leg was still made of ice, and half of it was gone. I couldn't move.

"I'm not crazy." I muttered with pain as Gray leaned me against him.

"Your master is defeated. Erza Scarlet, nor Aquila Orion can stand. You are defeated. Give us Lucy Heartfilia immediately. You have no choice." Jose's voice echoed from the building.

"Like hell!" I spat out as the guild joined in with the cry. We would not hand over one of our own.

My vision was going blurry. Taking that hit from the Jupiter cannon had hurt me. Not as badly as it could've thanks to Erza and I working together but I was about to pass out. I dimly heard Jose's voice say that he would fire again in fifteen minutes. I grabbed Gray's shirt collar and tugged him to down to me, so he could hear me. "You have fifteen minutes, you and Natsu are the strongest here. Take. Down. That. Cannon." I whispered fiercely. Gray looked at me his face alarmed. I saw his lips moving but I was too far gone. His worried face was the last thing I saw before I fell unconscious.

 **A/N: Alright, I'm back and a week late. Sorry 'bout that but life and school call you know? I hope you guys enjoy the chapter and don't forget to review. Also, as I have midterms starting this week and going until next week, don't expect an update until after Christmas. Have a Happy Holidays, be safe this Christmas and I will be back with an update after testing and the holidays!**


	20. Chapter 20

_Previously on…_

" _You have fifteen minutes, you and Natsu are the strongest here. Take. Down. That. Canon." I whispered fiercely. Gray looked at me his face alarmed. I saw his lips moving but I was too far gone. His worried face was the last thing I saw before I fell unconscious._

I came to slowly, laying on a table in the center of the guild. I saw Erza was awake beside me. "That was foolish, Erza." I spoke softly, yet my words came out harshly.

"I saved the guild. And that is all that matters." Erza stated as she stood.

"And what would have been the point of this guild if you had died?!" I yelled at her as I rose to a standing position, wincing as I put pressure on my injured leg. I looked down to see that it was still made of ice, but it had regenerated into a crude leg. It hurt, but it was enough to get me from point A to B and enough to ensure I could still fight.

"Come on, we need to assess what has been happening." Erza ignored my previous statement entirely and I used my ice to cover my leg in another layer, helping to heal it and ensure my movement. I nodded and we raced for the outside of the guild. We froze as we saw the giant machine drawing a magic circle, and the guild under attack by shadow soldiers of Jose's creation.

"Cana!" I called out to as I raced over to her as she collapsed to the ground.

"Aquila, Erza! You're awake!" Cana cried out as I helped her to her feet.

"We're saved!" Wakaba called out as the rest of the guild begin to fight harder.

"Cana, what did we miss?" Erza asked as she slashed through a shadow soldier.

"Natsu destroyed Jupiter. But Jose began casting Abyss break. But for whatever reason, it seems to have slowed down. Mira, Elfman, Gray, and Natsu are all in their guild hall. They will make sure to stop Jose's spell." Cana reported in as we fought back to back.

"Aquila, we must make our way to Phantom and assist our comrades." Erza ordered and I gave Cana a quick squeeze.

"You better stay safe, you hear me? Booze is on you when this is all over!" I called out as Cana gave me a determined grin.

Erza and I sprinted towards the water, and I began to ice it over as we ran. I hoped that we weren't too late. Erza and I leapt up through the shattered entry to where the lacrima storing the Jupiter cannon had been. It was shattered and a knocked out wizard was in the rubble. I knelt beside him, and turned him over. It was Totomaru of the Element Four. "Erza, Natsu must've beat him."

"Naturally, I had faith in him that he could do it." Erza nodded as we ran, passing through yet another hall, where another body lay. It was Sol of the Element Four, beaten to a pulp.

"No burns, it must have been Elfman." I stated as we ran past a window, then I skidded to a halt. "Erza!"

"What is it?"

"Magic circle it has slowed down again." I pointed to the hands we could see outside the window, which we moving infinitesimally slower.

"Could it be related to the Element Four?" I offered up as a cause.

"It makes sense, they are some of Phantom's strongest wizards, and it was already moving slowly when we saw Totomaru and Sol defeated." Erza allowed, deep in thought.

"If that is the case, who was beaten, Juvia or Aria?" I pondered aloud.

"Juvia, Aria is exceedingly powerful."

"Then we need to find Aria and whoever is facing him and lend a hand!" I declared before shooting off down the hall, Erza close on my tail. We needed to find Aria, and fast, before the machine finished casting Abyss break.

As we spun into the entry hall, it was clear to see who was facing Aria, and that he wasn't doing well.

As Natsu screamed, Erza and I leaped into the fray, both of us kicking Aria in the face, disrupting his spell and dropping Natsu to the floor.

"Erza! Aquila!" Happy cheered.

"You guys are here? Is it okay for you to move? You two are injured." Natsu asked with concern in his voice.

Erza and I turned to where we could sense Aria's magic power. Natsu and Happy took a few steps backwards.

"So… You're the bastard who dared lay a hand on our master." I growled, cracking my knuckles.

"The Great Erza Scarlet. And Aquila Orion no less. How unfortunate, it seems the Great Titania and Icy Damsel will lose their heads along with Salamander." Aria grinned.

"Our master suffered greatly by your hands. We will avenge him." Erza stated in a cold voice.

Natsu protested but paused as Aria chuckled. "Seeing as I am faced with more serious opponents, it's time I start taking my battles more seriously." Aria removed the bandage covering his eyes, and I tensed. He would grow to much greater power now that he could use his eyes.

"Now Titania, Glacial Aquila, step into Zero: Airspace of death!" Aria stated as wind began to swirl around him. "It consumes the lives of all who dare to enter!"

The wind began to stir up dust, hiding Natsu and happy from our eyes as we faced down Aria. "A magic that takes lives?! How can you bear to do this, you scoundrel!" Erza thundered as she requipped a sword.

"It would be more fun to show you." Aria grinned as his eyes glowed. Erza and ran forward, cutting through the wind. "Let's see just how well you handle this!" Aria yelled. He unleashed a wave of magic designed to keep us back and away from him.

I morphed my arms into icy spikes and joined Erza in using our combined magic power to slice through the spell. As he fired once again, Erza and I leapt into the air, Erza requipping into her Heaven's wheel armor.

"Heaven's wheel, scattered petals!" She yelled as she sent hundreds of her blades at Aria. Her attack landed and was followed by an icy fist to his face, sending him back a few dozen feet, the hard way.

"Your strength could not be compared to our master's, you'll only be remembered as a sobbing coward who fell by our hand." Erza stated as she fixed Aria with a cold glare.

Aria murmured a final few words as he then fell unconscious.

"That should be it. All the Element Four have fallen." I sighed, exhausted physically.

As the building began to rumble, Erza requipped into her ordinary clothes then began to collapse. I caught her and gently lowered her to the floor. Natsu ran over and held her up as I fell back against the floor.

"Attention you pathetic Fairy Tail worms. Listen carefully because I will only say this once." A scream echoed over the loudspeaker, and I paled.  
"Lucy!" I screamed as I struggled to stand back up.

"We have captured Lucy Heartfilia, which means our first order of business is out of the way. And that leaves us with just one more thing. My favorite part. Wiping all you miserable brats off the face of the earth." Jose cackled.

"Oh man, they got Lucy." Natsu whispered.

"Natsu." Erza whimpered out.

'Erza!" Natsu whipped his gaze down to my fallen partner.

"Listen, use your strength, it lies dormant deep down inside of you. Believe in yourself. Find it, find your strength, and awaken it." Erza spoke quietly, but her words resounded within the hall.

"Believe in yourself, as we always have, do it for Lucy. For our guild! Prove our faith in you is justified. Show us you're capable of surpassing us!" I thundered out. Natsu laid Erza carefully on the floor and began to draw his magic power to himself. A dragon's roar could be heard as his flames exploded and he leapt upwards, hell bound on saving Lucy and our guild.

"You know, I always knew he had it in him." I whispered, as I dragged Erza to a column for her to lean up against. I leaned up against it next to her, resting my eyes. Eventually I passed out, a result of my physical injuries and lack of magic, that had been used the whole time to continue repairing my leg.

"Erza? Aquila?" I heard a soft voice whisper. It sounded like Mira. I peeled my eyes open, to see Mira and Elfman standing above us, and Gray crouched next to me.

"Are you two okay?" Gray asked, his voice laced with concern.

"It looks like something big went down." Elfman stated.

"It's you. I take it from how soaked you are, that you defeated Juvia." I whispered to Gray.

"Never mind that. You're injured you shouldn't be here." Gray stated with a note of steel in his voice.

"Neither of you are looking too well." Mira agreed.

"Whoa." Elfman looked in shock at Aria, down on the ground.

"That's Aria!" Mira chirped.

"You two got shot by that cannon, and you STILL fought this guy?!" Elfman voiced his surprise.

I cast a half-hearted smirk in their direction. "He's all talk."

"What the hell were you two thinking?!" Gray demanded with anger in his voice.

"I must admit, I never wanted any of you to see me in such a wretched state." Erza smiled. "I guess I still have a lot to learn."

I stiffened as Mira, Elfman, and Gray froze.

"What the-?" Gray spoke

"What is it?" Mira whispered, as Erza and I stiffened.

"I sense death" Erza stated.

"It smells like…" I took a whiff of the air, and whipped my head to the other three, as I struggled to stand. "Get out of here!" I yelled to the other three.

"Bravo." A slow clap echoed through the hall, as Jose descended the stairs. "You're all quite keen. Very impressive, Fairy Tail wizards. I knew this would be fun, but never in my wildest dreams, did I think it would be this entertaining. You annihilated the Jupiter cannon, disposed of my elite Element Four, and you even managed to bring my magic giant to its knees."

"Jose." I growled out.

"Thank you, you've been so kind to entertain me, I feel like I simply must return the favor." Jose grinned, as Gray and Elfman leapt in front of us. "I'll return it in full." Jose began to emit and even darker aura as Gray and Elfman leapt at him.

"NO! Don't do it! Get out of here!" I screamed as Jose sent Gray and Elfman spinning into a heap of rubble, knocked out cold. His next attack sent the two into the air once more, and Mira spinning towards the back of the room. Erza struggled to her feet next to me.

We leapt at the Wizard Saint, dodging his attacks. I was covered in ice, and my hair was loose and writhing, once again covered in ice. Erza swung at him in her black-wing armor, while I battered at him with my fists and feet. However, Jose grabbed both Erza's hand and my leg, sending us spinning backwards. Erza and herself and regained her balance, I did the same, landing in a crouch.

"Fascinating." Jose spoke. "You two took a shoot from Jupiter at full force, did you not? And yet you're still standing."

"Only because our friends have filled our hearts with their strength." Erza declared.

"And because your action shave filled our hearts with fury." I spat out.

"We will withstand any physical pain, to protect the ones that we love." Erza stated, her sword held in a defensive manner.

"And we will bring absolute vengeance upon those who dare harm them." I growled out.

"Courageous, powerful, and exquisitely beautiful. Destroying you will bring me absolute pleasure." Jose grinned, his eyes filled with madness.

"To hell with you! We aren't beat yet!" I roared. I snapped my hair off and send the shards spinning at Jose's who blew them up with a flick of his wrist. Erza flew at him again and again, with me close behind, as we struggled to land a single blow on him.

As we jumped back from our last assault, rumbling began to echo throughout the guildhall, bits of stone falling from the ceiling.

"My, what an unruly dragon you have." Jose stated.

"He may be unruly, but he's also an extremely powerful wizard. In fact, I'd say he's just as strong as I am, if not stronger." Erza stated as she panted, while leveling her sword at Jose.

"Of course he is, and he's strong enough to kick any wizard of your guild's ass on any day, at any time." I bared my fangs at Jose who chuckled.

"There's no need to be so modest girls, your magics are just as spectacular as Salamander's. You two are the first wizards to ever last this long against me in battle." Jose raised a hand, "truth be told, we'd be more equally matched in power if you two hadn't taken a hit from the Jupiter cannon earlier today. You know what really irks me about Fairy Tail?" Jose said, switching tracks randomly. "The fact that there are so many powerful wizards such as yourselves… who are allied with Makarov!" Jose fired off dual shots of his shadow magic, sending Erza and I slamming into a wall. "Since you can't be tempted to join Phantom, there's only one way to change that." Jose fired more shots at us, but we leapt into the air, moving in opposite directions, hoping to make ourselves less of a target. "Kill you!" Jose thundered.

We continued to move, fleeing from the shots he was firing. "Your deaths will send the old coot into a deep despair. Imagine how he'll feel when he awakens to find his guildhall destroyed and his children dead and gone. He'd be lost, completely consumed by sorrow. Once he's been reduced to that miserable state, I can swoop in and kill him, but first, I'll make him suffer. I'll torture him until he has no choice but to wither and die!"

"You sick bastard!" I roared as I unleashed my icicle tempest on him. Erza leapt at him and tried to slash him, but he faded into thin air and reappeared behind her.

"As long as I can remember, Phantom Lord has always been at the top. The most powerful wizards with the strongest spells. We always had more members and more capital than any other guild. However, recently Fairy Tail has begun to catch up and our position as leader is in jeopardy." I dashed towards Jose and sent a brigade of icicles at him, only for him to wave his hand and turn them to water.

"The names Erza, Aquila, Laxus, and Mystogan became widely known. And stories of the Salamander spread across the land like wildfire. Now Phantom Lord and Fairy Tail are considered equals, the top two guilds representing this kingdom. The thought disgusts me." Jose's eyes widened as he thundered, "I refuse to be acquainted with such a feeble guild!"

"SHUT UP!" I roared as Erza and I both attacked as one.

"So, we're fighting for our lives just because you've had a fit of jealousy?!" Erza yelled as she held out her sword in open challenge.

"Jealousy? That's absurd, we simply wanted to prove to the kingdom that we are the dominant guild."

"You bastard. I've seen animal and children with more honor than you!" I bellowed. Erza leapt at Jose and began to slash wildly at him. I joined her and began to hurl icicles and balls of ice at Jose. With a grunt of exertion, he summoned some of his shadow creatures, which circled around Erza. I leapt backwards and smashed some of the ones coming for me, but one got around my leg and eventually locked me in place.

I let out a groan of agony, as bolts of lightning leapt through me. I was determined to not let this sick bastard see me scream.

"I've never been particularly fond of your guild. My distaste for you is not what triggered this war." Jose continued his rant. He was a madman and I began to tune him out, struggling not to scream in agony as Erza was. _Just hang on Erza,_ I thought as Jose sent another bolt to us. I began to pay attention was when he accused us of using Lucy's family fortune to buy our way to the top.

"You dumbass" I rasped out, trying to keep the pain out of my voice.

"What was that?" Jose asked as his spirits drew me closer to the man. "I called you a dumbass. We didn't even know Lucy was a Heartfilia until this ridiculous war. She couldn't have bought her way in, we couldn't be using that money! She is one of us because of who she is, not how much money she has! She struggles to pay rent, how could she be giving us money?! So, we're the best…" I paused for a minute, panting as he sent more bolts through me, but I would finish this if it was the last thing I did. "Because we are the strongest because of the wizards we are. Because we aren't COWARDS like Phantom Lord!" I yelled in triumph, then spit in Jose's face.

"You little bitch!" Jose roared then sent me slamming into a wall still stuck in the confines of my restraints, all while shocking me with more bolts. I clamped down of my jaw and resolved not to scream. He would have to kill me before I made a sound. Tears rolled down my cheeks from the sheer agony of it and I heard Erza screaming my name.

"Go. to. HELL!" I thundered as I began to push against my restraints with all of my might. I floated back over to Erza as I continued struggling, though my vision was getting blurry.

"I wouldn't keep struggling like that, if I were you, it's going to make this a lot more PAINFUL!" Jose conjured up two more creatures, one who went to Erza and one who came to me. I finally broke and screamed, it felt like my soul was being dragged out of my body kicking and screaming.

"You'd better buck up my dears, I want you to make an appearance before your peers. Once they see you two in such pitiful states, they're sure to surrender to me!"

"You're a despicable man!" Erza spat out at him. I snarled at him, baring my fangs.

"Now now, being rude to me isn't going to help your situation." Jose laughed as he once again shocked us. I screamed once more, and could feel my vision going black.

"Aquila!" Erza screamed out and I forced my eyes to open to see her sword levitating behind her. She was going to ensure there would be no surrender. I shook my head, and screamed once more. She couldn't, I wouldn't let her. I willed my body with all my strength, I was trying to turn to fluid ice to shield her! But these damn restraints!

Suddenly thunder echoed throughout the hall. Jose's restraints disappeared, and Erza and I were being healed. Her armor was repairing itself, and my ice that had chipped off my arms was reformed, as well as my leg finally healed itself.

"How?" Erza whispered as a light aura entered the hall. I collapsed beside Erza, who was on her knees. I eased myself up, and turned to see Master Makarov, healthy and alive, and ready to do battle.

"You have shed the blood of our children. And that is unforgivable. They have been made to suffer because of the incompetence of their parents. We are both to blame, Jose." Master said, his voice stern. Erza's eyes were tearing and I cast a weak grin at Master. "This war between us, has gone on long enough. Let's end this, here and now!"

"Master." Erza wiped away her tears of joy and I gave the old geezer a salute. I knew he could pull it off and come back.

"If we fight, it could create a catastrophe." Jose grinned as his dark and menacing aura made an appearance, fighting with Master's aura of light.

"In order to save my guild, I will gladly take that risk!" Master agreed as he conjured a ball of golden light.

I heard Gray groan as he began to wake up, urged by Master's powerful aura.

Jose sent shadow skulls at Erza, Master and I, but Master conjured magic circles of defense.

"You kids need to get out while you can!" Master ordered. I heard Gray and Elfman call out to Master and proclaim their desire to stay.

"No, we have to do as he says!" Erza declared as she struggled to lift me to me feet.

"I've got her!" Gray jumped over the rubble and lifted me off the ground, carrying me in his arms, while Elfman lent Mira his arm. We disappeared through one of the hole Jose had blown in the wall. Gray froze a path through the water, given that I was too injured to conjure any ice.

As we reached shore, Cana cried out and raced towards us. "Aquila, Erza! What happened to you?!" She demanded to know, as Gray helped me to stand, though he kept one of his arms around me for support.

I grimaced then gave her a weak smile. "I pissed off the Master of Phantom Lord."

"WHAT?!" Cana squawked. Gray only rolled his eyes, but I could see that he was really quite concerned. I smiled at him and he looked away, with a faintly embarrassed expression.

A bright light suddenly echoed from the Phantom Lord Guild hall, and Jose's shadow soldiers began to disappear.

"That's fairy law!" Erza stated as she stared at the light.

"What the hell is that?" Gray asked.

I grinned up at him, and answered, "That, dear Gray, is checkmate."

"It is a spell that vanquishes darkness with sacred light. It only affects those whom the caster sees as their enemy." Erza explained more thoroughly, a smile upon her face. "Incredible isn't it? It's one of the most legendary spells in existence."

As the spell faded and Master appeared on the rim of the Phantom Lord Guild hall, the guild let out a cheer. I grinned and threw my arms around Gray, and kissed him on the cheek.

"Wha-what was that for?!" Gray asked as he let go of my, dumping me rather unceremoniously on my rear.

"Well generally, when something wonderful happens, gentlemen are rewarded with a kiss but if you're going to reward ladies who kiss you by dropping them well…" I smacked him on the head causing him to double over in pain. "I'll just do that instead." I laughed at Gray's pained expression and sauntered over to Cana who threw her arms around me and screamed in my ear with joy.

Master came closer and we quieted, waiting for his words. "We are victorious. But I had very little to do with it. This victory is yours, my children!"

 **A/N: Hey it may be 11 pm (my time at least), but I did update on time! And to reward you for your patience, a long chapter. I hope everyone had a happy holiday and if you do gift-giving got awesome presents! So read, review, and tell me what you liked or hated, and what your favorite present this Holiday season was!**


	21. Chapter 21

_Previously on…_

 _Master came closer and we quieted, waiting for his words. "We are victorious. But I had very little to do with it. This victory is yours, my children!"_

"It's in ruins. They really did a number on it, huh?", Master sighed as he stood before the ruined guild hall. I stared at the demolished building, my heart feeling heavy, as I leant on Gray.

"Master." Lucy's quiet voice echoed throughout the area. "I-I'm so sorry." Tears dripped down her face, and I nudged Stella, who was clinging to my leg towards her. Lucy looked like she was in desperate need of comfort.

"Ah child, you've been through alot lately, but don't let it get you down." Master said gently to the distraught celestial mage as Stella clung to her leg.

"Yeah Lucy, show us a smile!" a cheerful voice called out from the steps. Everyone turned to witness Levy, Jet, and Droy climbing down them to smile at us. "We beat Phantom, so there's no reason for you to be sad."

As Lucy and Levy reconnected and Lucy broke down once again. I smiled. I was so glad Levy was okay, and that the guild going to be fine. I smiled up at Gray who returned my grin. Then we both blushed when we realized what position we were in. He had his arm around my waist, and I had mine around his. We both yanked our arms off of each other, as hastily redirected our attention to the Master, who had begun to speak.

"I know we can only share our feelings so much, our happiness and sadness can only be showed to an extent. But to be a part of guild means to share those feelings. One person's happiness is everyone's happiness, one person's anger, is everyone's anger, and person's tears become everyone's tears. There's no reason for you to feel guilty, no reason for you to cry. Everyone here has proven that they care about you." Luy wept and Master turned around to face her, "Hold your head high my dear, because you are a proud member of the Fairy Tail family." Lucy took a huge breath and burst into wails, but she held her head up. Levy went over and began to comfort her and everyone grinned at the scene they made.

Later, about a week after that fateful day, we had already begun rebuilding the guild. It was going great, I was in charge of disciplining those who were slacking off so I was having fun with that. Then the rune knights showed up. They dragged everyone into a military camp they had set up. Everyone went through daily interrogations. I admit though, I had fun pissing off the interrogators. Cana and I had a bet running to see how many interrogators we could drive to quit. I won that one though. They didn't like being frozen to their seats much.

Everything worked out though, despite then fine that was leveled on Master for Cana and I's antagonization of the soldiers, and we returned to working on rebuilding the guild hall.

Natsu and Gray were fighting once again, and then I picked up on an unusual scent. It was faint, almost like water was covering it.

I surreptitiously slid my drink down to Cana, who picked it up and began to chug it without dropping a beat. I slid behind a wall and began to follow my nose, leading to a spot where I could tell someone had been, but was now gone.

"Oi, Aquila!" I left the hiding spot when I heard Natsu call my name. "We're going to check on Lucy want to come?"

"You know it!" I grinned as Stella flew over and plopped down on my head.

""Stelle, we're headed to Lucy's!" I smiled up at my cat.

"Yay! Lucy always makes me nice tea!" Stella chirped as we made our way to the apartment on Strawberry Street.

I went through the front door with Erza, and set about to making a cup of tea for myself, her, and Stella. As the boys crawled through the window and chimney, I sniffed and turned my head. "Barbarians." I murmured, causing Stella to giggle.

"Hasn't anyone ever taught you boys to use a door?", Erza said as she sipped her tea.

We quickly came to the realization that Lucy was nowhere to be found in her apartment. "Lucy?" Happy called out as he opened a drawer.

"She wouldn't be in there, gah!" Gray and Natsu both turned pale with shock as hey looked in the drawer. Erza went red as she looked in as well.

I sauntered over with Stella as we took a look in as well.

"Where do you buy underwear like this?" Happy whimpered out.

"That's underwear?!" Gray gulped.

"I've never seen anything like it!" Erza mumbled. "Where would you even wear that?"

Stella peered in before I could stop her and piped up, "Aquila wears-" then I slapped my hand over her mouth. No need for them to go snooping through my underwear drawer next.

I shook my head at Stella and distracted her with a lollipop from the stash Lucy kept for Plue.

"Hm?" I turned to see Erza moving towards a note on the dresser. I followed her over, then turned back around when Happy yanked a drawer out of the desk that contained dozens upon dozens of letters.

"So many letters…" Gray stated.

"And they're still sealed." Erza observed.

Natsu cracked open one of them and began to read. " Dear Mom, Today was a very special day because I joined the Fairy Tail guild. I met the most beautiful wizard named Erza, and her partner Aquila. They're actually really nice and cool." Erza blushed at the description adn I smiled. It was nice to know how Lucy had thought of me. "Erza's always stopping Natsu adn Gray from fighting, while Aquila tends to laugh at them all."

"Are these all addressed to her mom?" Gray murmured as he examined the address.

"Looks that way." Happy added.

"How come she never mailed them?" Natsu wondered aloud.

"I found a note. Evidently Lucy left it for us." Erza held up the note, only five words written on the page. _I will go home, Lucy._ "It says she's going home."

"WHAAAT?!" Natsu, Gray, and Happy screamed.

"No way! Lucy would never leave us!" Natsu yelled.

"She's not leaving us, right Aquila?" Stella whimpered, as she clung to my leg. I gently patted her head while listening to Natsu and Gray freak out. Erza looked bewildered and I noticed her clench her hands into fists to hide her shaking.

"ENOUGH!" I yelled, causing the room to go silent. "There's only one thing to do…"

 _And then…_

We sprinted up the hill. "Come on, we still have to catch her!" I yelled back as Natsu sprinted past me.

"No time to lose!" He roared as we all raced to catch Lucy before she could leave us forever.

We spotted her standing in front of a statue of an angel.

"Lucy!" we all screamed as we ran up to her.

"Lucy!" Happy and Stella cried as the crashed into her chest. "Don't leave us!"

"What?! Who said anything about leaving?" Lucy asked as she stroked Happy adn Stella's fur.

"You left a note saying you were coming home! But we won't let you leave Fairy Tail!" Natsu declared.

Lucy smiled and laughed. "I was just coming home to tell my Dad to never try to hurt Fairy Tail again. I'd never leave the guild!"

Gray slumped over as Natsu complained that our effort was for nothing. I merely shared a smile with Erza. Our team was still together.

Lucy wished the staff good bye and we set out for the train station, to ride back to Magnolia. "I'm sorry guys, I didn't mean to freak you out."

"There's no need to apologize, we shouldn't have jumped to conclusions." Erza said with a shake of her head.

"Yeah, with thought you were going back for good." Gray added.

"Happy here, was crying like a baby." Natsu said, trying to conceal his own emotions. The fool had been crying just as bad as the exceeds.

"I gotta tell you, I'm kind of digging your hometown." Gray said as he glanced around the town. It was beautifully built, all the houses were white stone and the lawns were carefully maintained.

"Oh, it's not a town." Lucy said with a grin. "This is just part of our gardens. The Heartfilia estate goes all the way to that mountain over there." Lucy pointed out a mountain that had to be miles away.

I whistled low as the boys started to freak out. "Damn Lucy, your family is loaded." As Erza seemed to overload from the shock, Lucy burst into laughter. As we all walked back to the train station, all seemed right with the world for now.

 **A/N: I'm alive. I'm here! And this is the next chapter! It's short to be honest but I wanted to get it out there and wrap this arc up! Next up is our dear Erza's backstory! Sorry for the mini-hiatus but real life is getting really busy for me. So, I'm going to go to bi-monthly (as in 2 updates per month). School has ramped up so I need to focus on that too. When summer or a break rolls around I'll go back to weekly. Thanks for understanding and don't forget to review!**


	22. Chapter 22

"You're a celestial spirit?!" I heard Natsu exclaim as I nursed a drink at the makeshift bar we were using. Loke had left the guild and sufficiently freaked everyone out, then later returned with Lucy, explaining that he was a celestial spirit. I hid my smile as Gray, Natsu and Happy crowded around him asking questions. I frowned as Loke began to carry Lucy away and I sent a dart of ice at his feet causing him to slip and drop Lucy. He recovered quickly, much to my disappointment.

I dropped a few coins on the bar and walked over as Loke began to cuddle up to Lucy. "Down boy." I commanded as I zinged him with another ice dart.

"Don't be mean. I'd never abandon you my- Mmph!" Loke turned and attempted to put his arm around me and deliver a smooth line, but was stopped when I froze his lips shut.

"Yeah, I think you need to go now, you're still not up to one hundred percent." Lucy said with an unamused expression as she made to close his gate. I waved my hand and unfroze his lips as he mimed saying something.

"I got you something." Loke handed Lucy six tickets.

"What are those?" Lucy asked as she took them.

"They're tickets to a beach resort, you've done so much for me it was the least I could do." Loke grinned as he passed them out to us. Natsu, Lucy, Happy and Stella cheered as Loke continued, "I already gave Erza her ticket. I hope you guys have a good time."

"Come on, chop chop! No lollygagging or I'll leave you behind!" Erza's imperious voice echoed from behind us. We turned to see that once again, she had packed more than would ever be required of this trip.

"Bring on the beach! Let's go!" Natsu and Happy yelled out as Gray began to yell about how he needed to pack still.

"Why bother, when you'll end up stripping anyways." I cackled as Gray gave me a dirty look. "Speaking of, put some clothes on when you're in front of my cat!" I yelled, slamming Gray with an ice covered fist.

"Are you packed yet, we're almost ready to leave." Erza asked Lucy after Loke had disappeared.

"Yeah, I was just thinking. If I had been in his situation and had caused someone I cared about to get hurt, I would be just as torn up about it as he was. But I wouldn't hold onto the guilt, because I know my friends would be there for me. If I ever needed to talk, there's always someone here at Fairy Tail. We're really lucky, you know?" Lucy reflected as we all smiled at her. She had grown so much, and we all had only known her for a short time.

"Couldn't have said it better myself." Erza agreed with a smile.

"Come on let's get to the beach!" Natsu whined impatiently.

"I can't wait to get to the beach and soak up some rays." Gray added.

"Me too. What an unexpected treat this was. Now, let's have some fun!" Erza commanded and we all cheered and raced for the train station, excited for the fun that was about to come.

I watched Stella and Happy play tag while Erza and Gray played volleyball. I leaned back onto the sand and sighed. This was the life, soaking up some sun, having fun with my friends, it was perfect. Then Natsu slammed into me as his grip came loose from the surfboard he had been clinging to.

"Natsu, you have three seconds to get off me before I turn you into a glacier and float you out to sea." I muttered as I shoved the motion-sick slayer without me. Gray laughed as Natsu scrambled away from me and then stopped when the volleyball smacked him in the face.

"You want to something to laugh at, Popsicle? Here!" Natsu crowed with triumph as he ripped Gray's boxers off him. Causing him to use Happy as a cover-up. Lucy, Erza, and I howled with laughter as Gray yelled at Natsu to give them back. I made a point of covering Stella's eyes, despite the fact that she was napping, and unlikely to see Gray's junk.

As the day passed on, Stella and I went back to the room we shared with Erza to take a nap and shower off respectively. As I climbed out the shower and wrapped a towel around myself, I heard Erza scream and I rushed out of the bathroom to the balcony.

"Erza! What's wrong?!" I gasped as I looked around and saw nothing there.

"I-I'm sorry, it was merely a bad dream. I'm fine, don't worry about me." She said as she struggled to catch her breath.

I frowned but held my tongue. As much as I wanted to know what was going on, Erza and I had never discussed the past. It was easier for both of us that way.

As we both walked inside the room Lucy knocked on the door and burst into the room. "Hey Erza, Aquila, why don't you guys get dressed and come play some games? Natsu and Gray are downstairs." She exclaimed.

"That's right there's a casino here. In that case…" Erza's voice trailed off as she glowed with her requip magic. Suddenly she stood before us with her hair in a messy yet beautiful updo, a long red and purple dress, and long evening gloves. "So how do I look?" She asked.

"Beautiful, you show-off. Now, give me about ten minutes. Not all of can requip and instantly be perfect." I muttered the last part as I walked into the bathroom.

I threw on a royal blue cocktail dress that had only one sleeve and was cut at a high angle. I tucked my hair into a messy bun like Erza's and emerged.

"You both look amazing!" Lucy said though she looked confused as I yanked on my combat boots.

"I don't do high heels." was my response as I swept out of the room, followed by Erza.

As we met up with our group, we broke apart into small groups. Erza and Lucy went to play one card game, while Natsu and Happy drifted towards the games of chance. Gray and I joined a card game and tried to look like we didn't know Natsu.

"Gray my darling." A voice echoed from our left and we looked up to Juvia Lockser of Phantom Lord standing before us. "I'm Juvia, do you remember me?"

"You're from Phantom! What do you want?" I snarled at her. I didn't trust her, and what was up with calling Gray darling?

"I'm not here to fight! I just wanted to talk to Gray!" She exclaimed as she backed up and waved her hands.

"Chill out Aquila, let's see what she has to say." Gray said, and we walked over to one of the bars set up throughout the area.

"I heard Phantom was disbanded. That had to be tough on you." Gray said cordially as he ordered us drinks.

"Yes, but now I'm a free wizard, and I can join any guild I want!" Juvia said enthusiastically. I relaxed my guard a tad. She didn't sound bitter, and didn't seem to want revenge, if anything it sounded like she wanted to join Fairy Tail.

"I take it you want to join Fairy Tail then?" I asked her, my voice cautious as Stella watched from my lap. She nodded enthusiastically, then deflated as Gray chimed in.

"I don't know, there may be some problems with that. I personally don't have a problem with it, who knows what the master will say."

"I promise I'll do whatever it takes." Juvia said with determination. I had to smile at that, her determination was admirable.

"Gray Fullbuster, Aquila Orion?" A voice enquired behind us and we all turned. A man with a mask covering half of his face was standing there as a magic circle appeared over his eye. Suddenly the stand behind use exploded. I hardened into ice, but Juvia wasn't so lucky. She was cringing as she laid over half of the bar.

"What do you think you're doing?" Gray growled as he turned to face our assailant. I lifted Juvia up and propped her against the foundation of the stand. She wasn't badly injured merely stunned.

"Where is Erza?" The man asked, ignoring Gray's question.

"Bastard, if you're asking, no one's answering." I snarled at the man, whose face gave nothing away.

"Where is she?" The man asked once more.

"You think we'd tell you?" Gray responded as he prepared to fight.

Juvia suddenly turned to water and flowed in front of Gray. "You think I'd allow you to touch my beloved? You'll have to go through me first!" She declared. Admirable, but Gray could defend himself.

"Erza needs your help right now, I fear she may be in grave danger." Juvia stated, not taking her eyes off the man.

"I couldn't agree more. So…" My ice covered fists slammed into one another, "Why don't you start talking?"

"Ah so you've located her? Yes, I see… So I should clean things up here… Understood." The man spoke to someone, most likely using telepathy. His eye glowed and then the world went dark.

"What happened to the lights?" Gray yelled from somewhere to my left.

"It's magic of the dark lineage. Dark moment." The man whispered from behind us and I dodged to the right, grabbing Stella and taking her with me.

I heard a cry from where Gray and Juvia had been standing.

"You're very quick. But that won't stop me." The man said as I took a whiff of the air. I dodged to the right, once again causing him to miss me.

"What the eyes can't see, my nose and ears typically can." I smirked. Then with a rush of speed, I smelt him appear right in front of me.

" _Stay down."_ He hissed as he fired a magic spell right at Stella and I. As I fell back I assessed the damage done. He had barely scratched me. In fact, his spell seemed meant to look like death, but in fact incapacitate us. So he wasn't trying to kill us, so what was the end game? I slipped into unconsciousness.

As I blinked back into consciousness, I heard Lucy speaking. "They took Erza, Happy, and Stella."

"They did WHAT?!" I hollered as I rose to my feet, only to see Natsu blowing out a stream of fire.

"Natsu, Aquila!" Lucy called out as we met in the center of the room.

"What happened to you?" Gray demanded to know.

"Hey what kind of jerk shoots people in the mouth?! Someone could get really hurt…" Natsu whined.

"I think I think that would kill anyone who wasn't a weirdo like you." Lucy said drily.

"I'll show that BLOCKHEAD!" Natsu roared as he made to run for the door.

"Does he even know where he's going?" Lucy asked as we watched the smoke rise up from his trail.

I turned to Lucy and tapped the side of my nose. "Never doubt the nose of a dragon slayer, when it comes to chasing the people who've pissed us off, we're better than a bloodhound! Now come on!" I yelled as we made for the beach. I would catch the people who dared attack Erza, dare to kidnap my cat, and dared to mess with Fairy Tail!

 **A/N: What do you know? I'm alive! I'm sorry for not updating for so long, but I have something to make up for that. Shortly after this chapter is uploaded, I amd up loading not one, not two, but FIVE complete chapters that should bring us completely to the end of the Tower of Heaven arc! So forgive me for not updating for so long?**

 **Don't forget to read and review!**


	23. Chapter 23

I ignored Lucy entirely as she talked, I was too busy upchucking over the side of the boat. Why did those kidnappers have to take a boat? At this rate, I wasn't going to be able to fight I would be so motion sick.

"Are you guys sure we're going the right direction?" Lucy asked and I managed to give her a nod, as Natsu was too sick to answer, albeit the motion made me hurl over the side of the rowboat.

As we floated along, Natsu and I stood up. "I just got a weird feeling." Natsu said.

"I sense it too." I agreed, and then we watched in horror as birds began to drop out of the sky, dead, and the fish bubbled up from the ocean, belly up.

"I've never seen anything like it." Juvia murmured.

"What's that?" Natsu asked as he pointed to a structure in the distance.

"It must be the Tower of Heaven." Lucy murmured.

"Doesn't look like any kind of heaven I've seen." I snarled at it.

"I'll protect us," Juvia said as she raised her arm and created an opaque dome of water around us. "My water dome will prevent us from being seen."

"Nice work Juvia." Lucy said quietly and I nodded. As we approached Natsu began to complain once more and bicker with the others.

"Silence!" I hissed. "My cat is missing, Erza is a captive, and we're attempting to rescue them from enemy territory. Stop bickering and keep your wits about you!" Everyone shut up after that as I took to watching the Tower. What _was_ it?

As we disembarked close to the cliffside, we took stock of our surroundings. "They've got a ton of lookouts." Gray muttered as we watched the guards circulate.

"Let's charge them!" Natsu whispered furiously.

"Don't even think about it!" Lucy hissed back. "Remember they have Erza, Happy, and Stella. If we screw this up we could be putting them in danger."

"Damn, this way just isn't a logical way in." I cursed. How the hell were we supposed to save our friends if we couldn't even make it inside?

"I found an underwater passage." Juvia said as she bubbled to the water's surface.

"Seriously? Way to go." Gray said with approval. I ignored her attempted intimidation of Lucy, heavens know why she bothered, and stripped down. Juvia outfitted each of us, with water shells containing oxygen and we began to swim down the passageway.

We surfaced and were almost immediately discovered. "Intruders!" a guard called out and other guards began pouring in. "Identify yourselves!" one screamed.

"Guess, we have no choice, we're going to have to fight them!" Gray declared.

"Just the way I like it!" I smirked as ice began to cover my body.

"You losers want to know who we are? We're the wizards who are going to pound your faces in!" Natsu roared as he slammed his flame-covered fist into the rock, creating a dust cloud to shield our movements. "We're from FAIRY TAIL!" Natsu let out his roar, while I did the same on the other side, coating them respectively in ice and fire. I leapt onto a walkway and started pounding them the old-fashioned way, with my fists. As another battalion emerged from the walkway I unleashed my ice blades upon them, sending them into the water.

With that I leapt down to reunite with the rest of the team. "Let's get going, we still have to find Erza." I declared, interrupting the congratulations. Suddenly, a door opened and a walkway slid out of us, a silent invitation to enter.

"A trap?" Gray asked as we stared at the walkway.

"Do we care?" I asked, tugging on my slightly damp outfit. "I certainly don't." I replied to my own question as we marched into the tower.

As we explored further in, we came to a dining room filled with food. Gray and Natsu began to chow down while Lucy began to panic about being heard.

"There's no point in being quiet. They invited us in, they know we're here." I added as Gray told her to relax.

"But why would they let us in?" Lucy asked.

"You think maybe they're trying to provoke us?" Gray asked as he stuffed another bite of mashed potatoes into his mouth.

"I don't think so. This seems to be for some reason that we can't comprehend. There's something else going on here, we're merely missing the pieces." I spoke, half to the group, and half to myself.

Virgo was still present form when Lucy had summoned her to fight, and she commented on Lucy's state of dress. Changing into a garment from the celestial world, Lucy asked how she looked.

"You look great." Gray asked as he peered closer at her costume. Juvia was freaking out, begging him not to compliment her, and I couldn't stand his perviness so I slammed him on the head once again. "Ouch!" he complained, rubbing his head.

"Don't be a perv." I scolded him, when I paused and sniffed the air. "Guards!" I cried out and turned to face them, when Erza sliced through them.

"Erza!" We all cried out, rushing over to her.

Her eyes widened and she looked terrified to see us here. "What are you all doing here?!" She exclaimed seemingly horrified by our presence.

"We came to rescue you." Lucy said, her voice wilting over Erza's actions. Juvia started to introduce herself, when Erza cut her off.

"Go home. This place is dangerous." Erza demanded, her voice edged with anxiety.

"What the hell Erza?! We're not leaving you!" I raised my voice, matching her forcefulness

"You nuts if you think you can intimidate me into leaving. I'm not leaving until I can give that blockhead a piece of my fists." Natsu argued.

"You have to go!" Erza responded.

"Your friends kidnapped Happy and Stella! I'm not leaving her behind!" I yelled back.

"They got them too? It must have been Millianna." Erza murmured.

"It doesn't matter, I'm declaring war on the jerks who took my little buddy!" Natsu roared as he powered out of the room.

"Natsu!" Erza called as he vanished through the door she had come from.

"Let's go and help him!" Lucy declared, before Erza cut her off.

"NO! You don't have to worry about Happy or Stella. Millianna is a cat lover, she'd never do anything to hurt them. I promise I'll bring them back to the guild with me, but you four need to leave immediately." Erza said, her back to us.

"A snowflake's chance in hell I will! I've never asked about your past Erza, because neither of us wanted to share, but that time is over. We need to know what the hell is going on! I'm not leaving without you or without answers!" I demanded of my partner.

"We understand if you don't want to talk about. The creeps who kidnapped you were once your friends right? Well, we're your friends now, and we're here to help you!" Lucy declared passionately and we all nodded our agreement.

"Leave!" Erza demanded once again.

"No." I refused.

"You're freaking me out, this is completely unlike you. What happened to the woman who would tell us to shut up and come along whether we wanted to or not? We're here now, and we want to help." Gray added. "Master taught us that even the strongest warriors need a little back up once in a while."

Erza finally turned to face us and tears were flowing from her eye. "I'm sorry but you can't help me now. The odds are stacked against me. Win or lose this battle, I'm staring death in the face."

"What do you mean by that?" Gray asked as I frowned. What the hell were we missing? What had happened to her?

"There's no point in fighting what's inevitable, but what I can do is share my story with you while I'm still here." Erza said with a faked, watery smile. And so she began her story, explaining the slavery that went on here and how Jellal had saved her, only to turn on her later. How Rob, a member of Fairy Tail that had been captured, had sacrificed himself to save her. How she led a rebellion to free them all, and was the only one who escaped.

We listened in mute horror, to the tale of Erza Scarlet and her bravery, and of her weakness.


	24. Chapter 24

As Erza concluded her tale, we all stood in stunned silence. "I have to fight Jellal. I have no choice. I have to do it." She finished.

"Is it just me, or does the name Zeref sound familiar?" Gray wondered aloud.

"It should. He was a legendary black wizard." Erza said.

"We fought one of his demons, Lullaby." I added.

"I never mentioned it but I suspect Deliora was a demon from the book of Zeref as well." Erza said, and I nodded.

"If this wizard is as evil as you say, why would Jellal want to resurrect him?" Juvia asked. I merely remained silent. I was still processing everything Erza had told me. It was just shocking. I had never imagined her childhood being as traumatic as mine, but it had been.

"I don't understand Jellal's motives either. But my old friend, Sho said something about when Zeref is resurrected how they'll all go to heaven, and the world will be reborn. That they will become its rulers." Erza explained.

"There's one thing that confuses me about these old friends of yours. Why are they accusing you of betrayal? Don't they realize Jellal is the bad guy here?" Lucy asked.

"It's likely that Jellal tricked them, or lied to them about Erza's intentions. He would need them to be turned against Erza and want to remain here in order for his threat to be effective." I stated, and Erza nodded her agreement.

"However that doesn't change the fact that I abandoned them. I guess you could say I did betray them." Erza bowed her head, the sight of her resignation almost terrifying. Lucy argued with Erza over her culpability but Erza dismissed the argument.

"If I can defeat Jellal, it will all be over. Leave it to me okay?" Erza said.

"Bullshit." I said bluntly, calling her out on it, but before she could reply, we were interrupted by one of her old friends, the one called Sho I believe.

"Sister, that's not true. Why, why are you lying to them?" Sho asked, his eyes betraying a desperate look.

"She ain't lying kid. You're the one who's been lied to." I stated, drawing his attention to me.

"No! You think by making yourself the martyr you're going to get sympathy from your friends? Tell them the truth! That's not how it happened and you know it!" Sho exclaimed becoming increasingly agitated. Sho began to describe what the lie Jellal had told them was, and I felt my anger towards him grow. Erza blow up the boats? More likely Jellal did and lied to them. That was a load of bullshit and this kid needed it to be cleared up.

"Did you ever think that he might be lying?" Gray asked with a cold expression on his face.

"If you truly knew Erza, you'd know she'd never do something so horrible." Lucy chimed in, her face filled with steel.

"Face it kid, you've been had." I said, staring at Sho with pity.

He stumbled back, looking as though we'd hit him. "No… you only think you know her. You weren't there back then, you don't know anything about us!" Sho's eyes started to tear as his world began crumbling around him. "After you left, Jellal's words were my only salvation! And that's why I spent all these years working to finish the tower for him. I did it for his sake. Now, you're trying to tell me it was all a lie?! You really expect me to believe you're telling the truth and Jellal's been lying to us this whole time?!" Sho looked like he was on the verge of a mental breakdown as another voice echoed.

"That's right." the masked man shimmered into existence. As Gray dropped into an attack stance, I shook my head and held out a hand to stop him.

"He won't hurt us Gray. He could see through the darkness spell since he cast it, and when he attacked me, I was in my ice form, his spell merely incapacitated me, instead of killing me. The question is, why?"

"Excellent deduction. I'd expect no less from the Icy Damsel." The man nodded, Simon I think his name was.

"I don't understand." Sho whimpered out.

"I had to fool you and the others into thinking that I had killed them. I'd hoped our attack would lure them here." Simon explained.

"So you were lying too? How could you do that to me?" Sho closed his eyes as tears welled up within them.

"I'm sorry. Jellal had you under his spell and I couldn't convince you otherwise. I played along until the time was right." Simon placed his hand on Sho's shoulder, and Sho then recoiled form him.

"So you knew all along?" Erza asked as Simon turned to face her.

"I've always believed in you Erza, and there's _nothing_ that could change that." Simon gently took Erza's and hand and held it, "And I mean those words form the bottom of my heart."

"Simon…" Erza was tugged into a hug and smiled as I watched my partner embrace someone who she never thought she would see again.

"I never knew. I can't believe I blindly followed him all these years. I doubted you, because you left me all alone! You have no idea how much that hurt!" Sho sobbed on the ground, "I don't know what to do. I don't even know which one of you I should believe anymore!"

Erza knelt down beside him and said, "I know it must be difficult to take all of this in at once, but Sho, there's something you should know. Though it's been many years, I have never once forgotten about any of you. I'm sorry I couldn't stand up to him, but I was so weak back then. Please forgive me." Sho threw himself into Erza's arms and started to really cry.

"Now you're stronger and ready to face him. I waited for this very moment all these years. The moment when a group of powerful wizards would gather here." Simon said.

"So, you've been plotting all these years. What's the plan?" I asked, turning to look at Simon.

"We're going to take down Jellal. We can do it if we work together. But first, we must keep Salamander and Wally from clashing." Simon explained and we nodded.

We would do it. We would stop Jellal, and we would restore Erza's friends to the right side.


	25. Chapter 25

As we made our way to the top of the tower, Simon attempted to use his communication to contact Wally and Millianna. "Something's interfering with my communication with Wally and Millianna. I can't even tell where they are now." He reported.

"We all know it, I'm just going to say it. Jellal knows you're a turncoat. He's blocking your attempts to reach the others." I said as we ran up the stairs.

"Aquila, are you sure that we can trust this guy? I know you said he wasn't trying to kill us back at the resort but still." Gray asked me quietly as we ran after Simon.

Before I could reply, Simon responded, "I won't make excuses for my actions. Any wizard who couldn't survive that, wouldn't have a prayer against Jellal. I never doubted that Natsu or Aquila could handle the attack. None of you can comprehend the full extent of Natsu and Aquila's abilities. Once they awaken the true dragon's power within, evil will fall in their wake." Simon explained.

"How do you know so much about our dragon-slayer abilities?" I asked with a tad of suspicion.

"Jellal had Fairy Tail watched, making sure Erza wouldn't leak information. I took the liberty of paying attention to the most powerful." I growled at the idea that we had been watched as we turned into a dark tunnel inside the tower.

"Welcome to the Tower of Heaven. My name is Jellal, and I am the ruler of this tower. I see the players have been arranged. I'm delighted you've come all this way to see me." As Jellal's mocking voice echoed throughout the chamber, I noticed Sho looked like he was struggling. "Shall we play a round of heaven's game? The rules are really quite simple. I wish to use Erza as a sacrifice in my ceremony as a sacrifice to bring back Lord Zeref. If I succeed, the gates of Heaven will open, crowning my victory, however if you can manage to find a way to stop me, you'll be the winners of the game. To make things a little more interesting, I've enlisted three knights to battle on my behalf. The only way you'll be able to get to me is if you can defeat them. In other words, a three on eight battle royale."

"Like hell we'll let you win you bastard!" I roared at the ceiling, hoping whatever cameras he was using would pick it up.

"Oh and there's one more little surprise in store for you. Etherion is focused directly on this tower, and it is highly likely that they will attack. At this very moment they are in the midst of voting on whether to fire an Etherion blast. There's no telling how much time is left. Should the Etherion strike, complete annihilation is imminent. No players let to win. Game over." Jellal's voice faded and we turned to one another.

"That makes no sense, why would the magic council go to such drastic measures?!" Erza exclaimed. Then with a flash of light, Sho was standing there with Erza trapped in a card.

"What the hell are you doing?!" I yelled at Sho.

"I won't let him lay a finger on her." Sho proclaimed as Erza protested her imprisonment. "I'll beat Jellal all by myself if I have to!" Sho yelled as he turned and ran down the hall.

"No, you can't do it alone!" Simon yelled as he ran after Sho.

"Dammit! Alright here's the plan, we need to take these ridiculous 'knights' out if we want a shot at Jellal. Lucy, Juvia, follow the path that way, look for Natsu and take out any of these 'knights' if you encounter them. I'm counting on you. Gray and I will go after Erza." I commanded and they nodded and headed down the tunnel.

"Let's go, I have to knock some sense into that kid." I growled and Gray and I took off down the tunnel.

"Do you know where we're going?" He yelled as we sprinted down the hall.

"What have been saying this entire time, trust the nose!" I yelled back as we screeched to a halt in a large room where cages hung everywhere. We spotted Simon and leapt down to him, and he was with Happy and Stella!  
"Aquila!" Stella crashed into my chest, crying her little eyes out, "I'm so happy you found me, I had to deal with a crazy cat girl!"

"Aw Stella, but you're okay now aren't you? I bet Happy took care of you…"

"No! He chased some toy around the whole time and almost left me behind!" Stella cried.

I turned to glare at Happy who hid behind Gray, "Don't kill me! I wouldn't have actually left her!" He protested.

"We've got bigger problems, what is that thing? And what's it doing to Natsu?" Gray said and I set Stella down in time to see some sort of owl man hybrid gulp Natsu down.

"My prey is not only tasty, but I gain their magic energy as well!" The man crowed and Happy lunged at him, only to get roasted when he used Natsu's fire dragon roar on him.

"Happy!" Gray and I cried out as Stella flew after him.

"I've got him, save Natsu!" She cried out as she flew after him.

"When he devoured Salamander, he somehow gained his magic powers." Simon stated.

"Now for the final blow!" The man crowed as he sent a jet of flame at Stella and Happy. I was in motion before I knew it, catching Stella, while Gray caught Happy.

"Yep, that flame is pretty hot." Gray winced as he clung to the chain. I had coated myself in ice as to take less damage.

"Hoo, Hoo, Who are you?" The man demanded as Gray and I laid Happy and Stella on stable ground.

"I thought you were going to find Erza?!" Gray yelled at Simon.

"I was when this thing showed up!" Simon retorted.

"Enough fighting boys. We don't have the time for this, let's take him out, before something happens to Erza!" I yelled.

"G-gray, save him, he needs you..." Happy whimpered before he passed out.

"Tch. When are you going to learn to stay out of trouble? This is the last time I'm putting my neck on the line for you. You hear me Natsu?!" Gray yelled, which an angry noise could be heard from inside the owl man's body.

"The digestive process has begun. In merely 19 minutes time, Salamander's body will have dissolved inside my own!" He proclaimed.

"Shut it bastard. You ate Natsu, you tried to barbeque my cat. You better hope you drop down dead because when I'm done with you…" My magic flared as my body coated itself in ice and my hair froze over as I yanked it out of its braid, "you're going to wish you hadn't taken this job!" I yelled as I launched myself at the owl man in tandem with Gray.

"Ice-make lance!" Gray sent a barrage towards Fukuro, who retaliated with a fire dragon's roar, or tried to at least.

"Ice dragon's roar!" Our roar's met in the middle and dueled for dominance, until they both slipped past each other. I blocked as fire washed over Gray and I, though it was much less intense than Natsu's.

"Pff, don't make me laugh, these flames are nothing compared to Natsu's, though I expected that from a poser like you!" Gray bellowed as he released a wave of ice magic that froze the flames over.

"That's some impressive magic, I'll have to swallow you too!" Fukuro yelled as he dove towards Gray with his mouth open. He caught Gray in his mouth and began to try to stuff him in.

"Not today bird-brain!" I yelled as I grabbed Gray around the middle and pulled for all I was worth. I yanked Gray out, and with a hand around his wrist out came Natsu, who was woozy form his brush with digestion.

"We haven't got time for him, Erza needs us!" I yelled at Gray who nodded.

"Let's go!" I yelled as we both rushed him, Gray adding large blades to his arms, and I transformed my arms into blades of ice, a little trick I had picked up, similar to what Gajeel of Phantom has used. We slammed Fukuro through some cage bars, and watched the cage crash to the ground.

"They beat him!" Happy cried out.

"Erza… Erza always kept her heart shielded in armor, trying to prevent it from breaking again. But that didn't stop the pain. I hope she knows her friends in Fairy Tail are ten times better than any armor. With us around she'll never cry again." Gray stated.

"Damn straight." I agreed, remembering the quiet, anti-social little girl who had first arrived. Gray had been her first friend in the guild, and I had the honor of being the second.

"We'll find her. We'll save her and with us around, heaven help anyone or anything that makes her cry again." I said, fixing my eyes on the way to the top of the tower, where Jellal was waiting for us to fight him.

"We've… got to rescue… Erza…" Gray said as he collapsed and I caught him.

"Damn, fighting that assassin took too much of his magic." I swore. "Alright, Happy, Stella, take Gray and go find Juvia and Lucy. Get off of this island and get out of range, do you understand me?" I ordered.

"Aye sir!" Happy agreed as He and Stella carefully lifted Gray off the ground.

"Now, Simon, you carry Natsu. We're going to find Erza and meet this Jellal. My fist has a few things to say to him." I growled as Simon hoisted Natsu over his shoulder and we took off down the tunnel, following my nose that would lead us to Erza.

As we marched up the tower, Natsu came to and Simon explained all that had occurred. Simon paused and held his side, grimacing.

"Simon, are you alright?" I asked trying to catch a glimpse of what might be ailing him.

"I'm fine, I just received word from Wally and Millianna. They found Juvia and Lucy and are taking them someplace safe. Apparently Lucy and Juvia are in bad shape, they managed to take down one of trinity raven all by themselves." Simon reported.

"That's a relief," I sighed "Glad they're going to make it out of range."

"Sho also just informed me that Erza defeated the last member of Trinity Raven. Now that they're all out of the picture, that just leaves Jellal. Erza has gone to find him."

"Like hell she'll fight him by herself." I snapped at Simon.

"She wants to do this on her own. But I'm worried about her fighting him, he's stronger than she knows. I'm begging you two, please help her." Simon turned to us.

"Not going to happen." Natsu stated with a shake of his head.

"WHAT?!" Simon exclaimed, "What's wrong with you two, you claim to be Erza's friends, but you refuse to help her fight?!"

"Erza is a big girl. She can fight her own battles. You don't have enough faith in her if you think that she can't beat this Jellal character." I said solemnly.

"She'd never forgive us if we butted in on the action like that." Natsu added

"She's not strong enough to beat Jellal on her own." Simon said turning to gaze at the ocean.

"What the hell?! She's one of the strongest-" I started to argue but Simon cut me off.

"No, you've got it wrong, this isn't about her magical strength. Erza has always wanted to save Jellal. She could never truly hate the boy from her childhood. Jellal will manipulate her feelings to his advantage. According to Sho, she ordered everyone to leave the tower, and if you know her as well as you say you do, then you know what she's up to." Simon finished and I ground my teeth together.

I was going to smack Erza once this whole mess was over. "Then let's get moving, I won't lose my partner!" I roared as we sprinted up the steps. We left Simon behind us as we ran for the top.

As we ran, a glow began to echo from the outside. _Dammit, the Etherion is firing,_ I thought as we raced for the room. _Erza, you'd better not die, I won't forgive you if you do,_ was my final thought as the Etherion fired.


	26. Chapter 26

Natsu and I stood upright from our positions we took in our new surroundings. The tower's basic infrastructure was gone. All that remained was a giant lacrima.

"What the hell happened to this place?" Natsu asked groggily.

"It's a lacrima, it must've absorbed the Etherion blast. It's the only reason we're still alive." I stated as I scanned the tower for a way up.

"It doesn't matter. We gotta find Erza!" Natsu said and I nodded, and with that we began to climb straight up the side of the tower.

We scrambled over the side of the tower in time to see Erza shoved into the lacrima. As Jellal turned to begin the oh-so cliché villainous monologue, Natsu and I raced over to Erza, who was screaming for him to stop.

"We've got you." I said as it took Natsu and I combined to yank her out of the lacrima.

"Erza's an important part of your Fairy Tail family." Natsu declared as Jellal turned around to face us.

"We won't let you lay a finger on her." I growled as I supported Erza.

"Natsu, Aquila." Erza whispered as we lowered her to the ground.

"Jeez, what are you doing hanging around with this loser? If we don't hurry and get back to work, Lucy's not going to be able to pay her rent. Trust me, you don't want to make her angry." Natsu said with smile down at Erza.

"Sorry, but I can't move." Erza's voice quavered and it broke my heart to see her so fragile.

"No way!" Natsu had an evil grin on his face as he began to tickle Erza, "This is serious payback for all the pain you've put me through!" I rolled my eyes at his childish display, but smiled nonetheless. Only Natsu could cheer Erza up in such a dire situation.

Erza was laughing and smiling for a moment, but as Natsu stopped, her smile faded. "You two have to get out of here."

"No way, I ain't leaving. If you can't do the fighting yourself, then I'll just have to do it for you!" Natsu rose to his feet, and turned to face Jellal, as I propped Erza up.

"Please for once Aquila, Natsu, do as I ask. You can't beat him, he's too strong." Erza whispered as a tear ran down her cheek.

"Sorry Erza, but we're part of your team, I'm your partner, and there's no way in hell we're leaving you behind." I slammed my fist into Erza's stomach, knocking her out cold.

"What sort of people are you, hitting a defenseless friend?" Jellal said with smirk.

"She did it, because she was crying. She looked so weak and fragile. Her voice was trembling in fear. No one wants to see Erza like that. I've always looked up to her as a strong warrior. And when she wakes up form this nightmare, we want her to feel like her old self again." Natsu clenched his fists as flames sprung into existence.

I turned to face Jellal fully and I smirked. "So, you're the infamous Jellal I've heard so much about. Pity, you certainly don't look too big and bad. Which is a shame for you because for making Erza cry, that means, your life is at its end buddy!" I coated my body with ice, and allowed my hair to freeze over.

"If you want to get to Erza, you're going to have to go through us!" Natsu exclaimed as flames and ice coated the ground.

'Is that a challenge? Consider my interest piqued. I would love to witness the powers of two dragon slayers. However Miss Orion, you may find I'm not so easy of an opponent to beat!" Jellal declared as Natsu and I launched ourselves at him.

I swept his legs out from under him as Natsu slammed a flaming foot into his face knocking him across the room. Leaving him no time to recover, Natsu and I were on him in an instant, alternatively punching the shit out of him.

"Fire-dragon wing attack!" Natsu spread his arms out as the extensions of his flames slammed into Jellal.

"Ice-dragon's talon!" I slammed foot which had large icy spikes coming out of it into Jellal's gut, sending him slamming into a piece of lacrima.

"Fired-dragon…"

"Ice-dragon"

"ROAR!" Natsu and I sent a blast of our roars straight for his prone figure, creating a massive explosion. From the flames and ice, Jellal emerged, ripping his tattered coat off with a smirk on his face.

"Is that the best you can do?" Jellal asked with smirk. "I expected more from The Icy Damsel and the Salamander. I was hoping to get a taste of the destructive might of a dragon slayer before I started ripping you to shreds with my bare hands. But if that's all you've got, I won't waste my time."

"We're nowhere near done you monster!" I yelled as Natsu and I made to attack him once more.

"You must be punished for interrupting my ceremony. Prepare to be destroyed by my heavenly body magic. Meter!" Jellal began to glow and he leapt into the air, dodging Natsu and I completely. As I froze for a moment, He flashed in from behind us, surprising Natsu with a kick to the chest, then he was in front of me and had slammed his fist into my gut. He proceeded to beat on us for the next several moments.

"Damn, he's quick." I snarled as Natsu and I rose to our feet. I ran alongside Natsu as we struggled to get our bearings. I listened for the wind he created and smelt the air for his scent. I turned in time with Natsu, only to miss him and be slammed into.

"Be glad you got your hits in." Jellal laughed as he proceeded to pummel us. I braced myself and took less damage than Natsu did due to my ice, but it still hurt like hell. We fell to the ground and I spit out some blood.

"Allow me to show you the destructive power of true darkness magic. May the seven stars bring judgement upon you, seven star song, GRAND CHARIOT!" Jellal's magic produced a large beam of light, and as it hurtled for us, I enacted my defensive magic. I froze Natsu over, hoping to lessen some of the damage he took.

The explosion destroyed the ground we were under and I released Natsu from the confines of my ice. He lay unconscious on the ground, as I struggled to remain conscious. "That spell packs as much power as a falling meteor. I'm surprised your bodies are still in one piece after being hit with it. Perhaps that was a little much. The R-system can't afford to suffer any more damage or it'll be rendered useless. I can feel the magic energy beginning to leak out. I'll have to hurry. It's time Erza." Jellal cast a power hungry glance towards Erza's unconscious body.

"Over… my… dead body." I huffed as I rose to a shaky stand.

"Oh, you survived did you? I suppose that would make sense for the legendary Icy Damsel." Jellal turned to face me his face disinterested.

"Did you hear that Natsu? This tower is nothing but one big, _breakable,_ building." I grinned a feral smile as I allowed my ice to flow over me once more.

Natsu let out a low laugh as he struggled to his feet. "I heard him all right."

"Take this entire godsdamned place down. I'll deal with him." I growled as I leapt toward Jellal.

As I leapt at him he dodged backwards, yelling as Natsu began to send fractures throughout the ground, "What are you doing?!" Jellal yelled as he fended off my attacks.

"Shouldn't you know this you little sneak? Fairy Tail wizards, are the best when it comes to destroying things!" I yelled as I socked him in the face, sending him tumbling backwards.

"I won't let you get in my way!" He yelled and made to use meteor to try to stop Natsu, but I grabbed him by the ankle.

"I don't think so." I hurled him into another pile of crystal, determined to ensure he wouldn't get up this time.

"I won't let you do this!" He screamed as he launched himself at me once again, as I dodged into the air.

"Ice-dragon, blades of ice!" I formed several blades of long thick ice and sent them hurtling towards Jellal. Jellal let out a scream of frustration and sent several balls of light towards me as I hardened my ice and stood steady. "I'm no pushover, I picked up a lot from Erza over the years, and defense has always been one of my strongest abilities." I leapt for him once again, snapping my icy hair off with a flick of my wrist and sending the icy needles hurtling towards him, He cried out as a few pierced him, and he yanked them out. From behind the sounds of Natsu going to town could be heard and Jellal's face contorted with rage.

"I'll make you pay!" He screamed as a magic circle appeared over his head and a ball of darkness appeared, sucking in air and pieces of wind. The feel of the magic made me feel like I was going to be sick. I froze my feet to the ground merely to stay grounded and not be sucked towards the growing dark ball above Jellal's head. "And now, I'll plunge you into infinite darkness dragon slayer!"

In a flash Erza was in front of me. "Don't do it!" She yelled, her arms spread in front of me. "Unless you want to kill me too! You don't want to lose your sacrifice to Zeref do you?"

"That would be a problem, the ceremony requires a wizard comparable in strength to one of the ten wizard saints. However, I can find a suitable replacement. After all there is one right behind you." Jellal's spell resurged with a vengeance, morphing into a massive black hole.

"Erza! What are you doing?!" I screamed at her. Natsu had ceased his destruction and was standing beside me, his eyes wide.

"It's my fault that you're in this mess. The least I can do is protect you!" Erza responded, refusing to turn and look at me.

"Get out of the way! I have my defensive magic, we'll be alright!" I screamed with desperation as Jellal fired his spell at us.

"ERZA!" I screamed as the spell headed straight for her.

In an instant someone stepped in front of Erza, and a magic circle appeared, blocking the spell, revealing it to be Simon. A massive explosion echoed throughout the room and smoke was everywhere.

"Simon." I whispered as I saw that he had taken the spell, for Erza.

"Why Simon?" Erza whispered.

"To… save… you." Simon managed to get out before he collapsed. Erza ran to his side as Jellal began to gloat about his fast-approaching death.

I felt a tear run down my cheek as Simon died, being held by Erza, his long-lost friend. I could feel Erza's anguish as she sobbed and wailed. I didn't know jack about Simon, only that he cared for Erza. But that was all I needed to know in order to mourn him, and despise Jellal for his death.

"What a perfectly foolish thing to do! He tried to play the valiant hero, but is death won't change a thing! Simon gave his own life to save yours, but he should've known I'm not letting any of you leave this tower alive!" Jellal laughed at his death and that was when I snapped.

"Shut your damn mouth!" Natsu roared as he and I were in front of Jellal in an instant.

"You're the one who won't be leaving alive." I snarled as my magic swirled around us, and frost grew on the floor. Natsu's punch sent Jellal slamming into the structure, destroying more of the lacrima. I froze as I heard Natsu crunch on something and turned to watch him eat the lacrima from the tower. The magic energy began to flow into him from the tower, as he roared with renewed power.

 _That damn fool, it contains all magic not just fire, he'll be lucky if it doesn't kill him!_ I thought as I watched him send a blast of magic energy towards Jellal. He stopped and began to clutch at his throat as the magic began to clash within him. "Natsu, you idiot, don't die on us!" I yelled as I knelt by his side, helpless to do anything but watch.

"What an idiot. Did he really think he'd be able to power up by consuming elements other than his own? It'll certainly make my job easier if he kills himself." Jellal said with a sneer.

"Not quite bastard!" I yelled and turned to face him. Then a felt a rush of heat behind me and turned to see that Natsu had done it. He had converted all the energy into flame. Scales appeared on his face and I grinned. He had scratched the surface. Now it was time I showed my skills. I stood and forced my magic to flow faster, work better, and I could feel the scales appear on my face and arms, as though they had been carved into the ice that was my body.

Natsu launched himself at Jellal, and slammed a knee into his face. I followed close after with a barrage of ice spikes.

"You made Erza cry!" Natsu roared as he slammed into Jellal once more sending him through the floor.

"That's a crime, that can't be forgiven!" I yelled, as I slammed my foot into his gut. "We promised that we would take care of Erza!"

"And we won't ever break our promise!" Natsu yelled as Jellal slammed through several more levels of the tower. "Hurt her again and we'll kill you!"

"Your threats don't scare me, meteor!" Jellal activated his spell and flew for the top, leaving Natsu and I to plummet. But that wasn't happening. Natsu and I began to leap from falling piece to falling piece, catching back up to Jellal. "You'll never be able to catch me at this rate!" Jellal cackled as he continued upward.

However, Natsu and I weren't to be deterred. We continued leaping up towards Jellal, swinging each other up in coordination that took years of fighting with each other to perfect. Natsu reached him first and slammed his fist into Jellal's stomach.

"I won't lose, not to you!" He yelled as he kicked Natsu into the lacrima.

"Oh yes you will!" I roared as I shot up behind him and nailed him with a kick to the back, sending him to the ground, but he just got up again.

"I'm destined to create a land of freedom, I know this because in my darkest hour I could hear Lord Zeref calling out to me! He told me he could make all my dreams come true and I believe him. There's a reason I'm the only human who can sense Zeref's presence, it's because I am the chosen one! Once he's been resurrected, we'll work together to create a land that's truly free!" Jellal yelled, his eye betraying his madness.

"And you're going to do that by taking away the rights of everyone else in the world?!" Natsu yelled as we dodged Jellal's balls of light.

"If that's what has to be done to make everyone free, then so be it!" Jellal responded. "I couldn't care less about what happens to feeble minded fools like you!" He flew into the air, and created a large magic circle pointed directly at Natsu and I. The circle was… _Abyss Break._

"Are you insane?! You'll destroy the tower so many died to create!" Erza yelled from where she stood by Simon's body.

"This tower means nothing to me. Now that I've done it once, I could do it again in half the time!" Jellal gloated, then he froze as he clutched his stomach.

"You'll never know what it means to be free, not as long as you're possessed by that spirit!" Natsu roared as he launched himself at Jellal, his flames taking on the image of a dragon.

"You're a fool Jellal, for thinking that what you want is freedom!" I yelled leaping up there myself, and slamming my fist into his gut, sending him straight towards Natsu.

"Why are you letting him manipulate you?! You can do it Jellal, free YOURSELF!" Natsu slammed his fist into Jellal's face, sending him slamming down the center of the tower. Natsu and I crashed down beside him, standing up and turning to Erza. We grinned at her and she smiled back.

Natsu began to fall, exhausted form his eating of Eternano and the fight. I caught him as Erza scrambled over to us. She grabbed us both and yanked us into a hug. "I knew you'd find your inner strength. You're amazing." She whispered to Natsu and I grinned at her. He was always surprising is, that's for damn sure.

We started when the tower started to quake and the lacrima began to glow. "Damn, when I told him to go nuts on the tower, I did not think that through!" I cursed as I struggled to my feet, supporting Natsu as well. Erza turned to watch as Simon's body began to slide down towards the sea.

"Hold, Natsu, I'll get him!" I ordered Erza, then stumbled as she grabbed my arm.

"No. That's not Simon. That's merely his body and I won't risk your life for something that isn't even him anymore!" Erza ordered and I turned to look back at him.

"But Erza, he's your friend-"

" _You_ are my partner! I'm not letting you risk yourself for him. He'll be with me, in my heart." Erza gave me a watery smile and I relented.

We began to make our way out of the tower as it started to explode and crumble around us. We skirted the geysers of magical energy that began to erupt around us. One exploded close sending Erza, Natsu, and I flying. Erza cried out at the impact as I struggled to get back on my feet.

"It's over." Erza whispered as she slammed her fist into the ice.

"It's never over! There must be some way to get out of here alive!" I spoke furiously as I desperately tried to think of an idea. Then I saw Erza staring at the lacrima beside us.

"No way. No way in hell!" I said when I realized the crazy idea she was having. "Natsu and I didn't get beaten all to hell for you to end up inside that thing. My ice, I can use my ability to shield us!" but Erza shook her head.

"It won't be enough. The destructive force is massive, we would be lucky if Natsu and I survived inside that, let alone you." I grit my teeth in anger at her hypocrisy,

"So I can't sacrifice myself, but you can?! I won't let you Erza, there has to be a way where all three of us make it out of here alive!" I cried out desperate to stop her from doing something stupid.

"There is no other way." and I felt Erza sink her fist into my stomach. I dropped to the ground, stunned as she turned and began to slide herself into the lacrima.

"No don't do it!" I cried out as I struggled to make it to stop her. I felt her hand grab my shoulder and I looked up at her with tears in my eyes.

"I can't even imagine what my life would've been like without Fairy Tail. If it weren't for you and the others, I probably wouldn't be here today. I hope you know how important you all are to me. I care for you so much." Erza smiled at me and I felt like my heart was breaking.

"Erza. Don't go! Don't leave us!" I sobbed as tears flowed out of my eyes. "You're my partner, you're one of my very best friends! Don't leave me!" I wailed as Erza removed her hand from my shoulder.

"I'm so glad you asked me to be your partner on the S-class exam." She whispered as slipped fully into the lacrima. "I'm willing to give my life, so that my loved ones may live."

"ERZA!" I screamed as the crystal began to glow.


	27. Chapter 27

As I struggled onto shore, I heard her wake up. "Where am I?" Erza's voice quavered.

"ERZA!" A cry could be heard from our friends who were cheering and running down the beach towards us.

"But this doesn't make any sense. Does this mean, I'm still alive?" Erza asked aloud and I turned to her and gave her a solemn look as she seemed to realize Natsu was carrying her.

As Natsu sank to his knees, I knelt beside them and squeezed Erza's hand. "I feel the same way you do, about our guild, about our friends. I know everyone else does too. So let me tell you, if you ever try to pull something that STUPID again, I'm going to kill you! So you have to promise here and now, that you won't ever pull a stunt like that again." I growled at Erza.

"I won't." She said and I shook my head.

"Promise." I demanded and she nodded.

"I promise." Erza pulled Natsu and I into a hug as tears streamed down our faces. "Thank you, both of you. This experience has taught me a very important lesson. You don't die for your friends. You live for them. Because their future wouldn't be as happy without you in it!" Erza declared and I laughed and nodded as we were swarmed by the others all intent on squeezing the life out of Erza.

We had returned to the resort and had gotten our injuries treated. We were all in Natsu's room watching him sleep off his injuries.

"Do you think he's going to be okay?" Gray asked with a frown as he watched Natsu snore.

"He'll be fine. If he didn't die right then and there, then he's not going to. After all, idiot's never die." I snorted.

"Who said that, I'll beat you up!" Natsu declared as though he was roused from his sleep solely to fight.

"You're awake!" Happy exclaimed, only for Natsu to fall right back to sleep.

"Typical he wakes up to pick a fight, then goes right back to sleep." I rolled my eyes as Lucy laughed.

"I know I've already said this, but I'm sorry causing such trouble." Erza said with reddened cheeks.

"Aw, you don't have to keep apologizing to us." Lucy dismissed her apologies with a wave.

"Gray, where's your friend, I wanted to thank her." Erza asked Gray.

"Yeah, where did Juvia, go, I figured she'd stay here and be all over you. She seems ridiculously attached." I added in.

"She left a while ago. She wanted to talk Gramps about signing up and joining the guild." Gray said and Erza's face turned downcast.

"I see." She responded and we all lapsed into silence. I knew why. She was sad that her friends didn't want to join. They had decided to travel the world instead. Back when we had arrived, I had watched through a window as they had spoken to Erza and made amends amongst themselves. It made me happy to see them reunited but sad, knowing there were two who had deserved better than what they had received in life. They had continued towards the hotel but Erza had paused and stared out at the sea, as though waiting for the two missing men to reappear.

Erza and I had spoken once we had arrived back at the hotel. She said that she thought Jellal might've been the one responsible for preventing the tower form exploding. I agreed her theory might be possible. It would explain why Natsu and I never found his body and why Erza had survived.

I was relaxing on Lucy's balcony, keeping her company while she wrote when Erza burst in. "Have either of you seen Sho and the others?!" She asked frantically.

"Haven't seen them since dinner." I reported honestly.

"I can't seem to find them." Erza stated.

"You don't think they left without saying goodbye do you?" Lucy asked Erza who nodded.

"Well, then what are we waiting for. The nose knows!" I declared as I stood up from my chair and marched out the door, determined to find them for Erza, them possibly beat them for upsetting her. Again.

"Yes, Lucy, tell Natsu and Gray to get the fireworks ready and meet us on the beach." Erza stormed past me as Lucy stammered in confusion.

"So a proper send-off it is?" I asked my quiet partner.

"Nothing less." Was her only response. I grinned at her and then set off tracking the scents of her wayward friends.

As we arrived on the beach. I took to leaning against a palm tree as Erza approached her friends. I would back her up if she needed me, but for now, this was her arena. I smiled as she gave them her blessing and transformed into her farewell armor. I stepped forwards as she began listing the rules of leaving Fairy Tail.

"Number one, never share sensitive information about the guild with anyone so long as you live. Number two, never contact any clients you worked for while in the guild for your own personal gain. Number three, although our paths must stray, promise to live the rest of your lives to the fullest! That means, you must treat every day as though it were your last in this world. Never forget your Fairy Tail friends. Treasure them for as long as you live. Let the Fairy Tail farewell begin now!" Erza concluded, lifting her flag in the air.

"Yes ma'am." we all said in unison, as Natsu, Lucy, and Gray had arrived for the end of her speech.

Natsu launched off three fireworks with his flames, each exploding in a beautiful display of light.

"May all your journeys bring you joy," Erza said as Gray and myself launched several ice balls into the air that exploded in a shower of icy crystals.

"Watch this!" Lucy declared as she fired off a shot of her celestial magic which exploded into stars and white light.

"I wish we could stay together forever, but deep down, I know I'd only hold you back. I don't want that. After all those years you spent stuck in that tower, you deserve to finally be free!" Erza declared as the three shoved off. They sobbed that she'd never hold them back, and they didn't want to remind her of painful memories. "But I have more than painful memories with you! Besides what we went through made us stronger, it brought us closer. I will always hold onto those memories both good and bad. I wish you the best of luck and happiness in your new lives. This isn't goodbye, I know we'll meet again. I'll be waiting." Erza whispered the last part, as her friends were out of range.

"Are you going to be okay?" I asked my friend as the finale of fireworks exploded around us.

"I will be." She responded and I slung my arm around her shoulders.

"Good, because while we will never replace them, you've got us too." I declared and I saw Erza smile.

"I know." She whispered as the final firework exploded above us, in the shape of our guildmarks.

 **A/N: Alright, and that's a wrap for Tower of Heaven. Hope you enjoyed it, don't forget to read and review!**


	28. Chapter 28

After Sho, Wally, and Millianna left, we departed the next day. We'd had enough of la-la land. As we arrived back in Magnolia, we marveled over the new guild, whose construction had been finished in our absence. As we marched into the entry hall of the guild hall, we wondered at how large it had become.

"I could get used to this." Erza remarked, as we observed where everything was now located.

"Hell yeah, this rocks!" I whistled low, amazed at all the sights. Levy ran up and began to explain all the new features of the guild, and how now as long as an S-class wizard accompanied the group, wizards could now take S-class requests.

"Nice to see you dunderheads made it back safely." we heard Master called out and we turned to greet him.

"I'd like you to meet Fairy Tail's newest member, Juvia." Master said, as our attention as drawn to the friendly rain woman.

"I can't wait to work you!" She smiled and curtsied.

Gray laughed and I strode up to her. "None of that now, we're friends aren't we? Glad you persuaded Master to let you join!" I said cheerfully as I clasped my arms around her shoulders.

"Yay! I haven't really met you, but you seem nice!" Stella chirped as she fluttered around Juvia, who gave a small smile.

"Thanks so much for helping us at Akane." Erza said graciously to Juvia, who shook her head with a smile.

"No, I should be thanking you, thanks to you all, I got a new guild!" Juvia said with a large grin.

"We've also added another member to the guild." Master added, as I giggled while Lucy fended off a jealous Juvia. Juvia needed to get over her little crush, Gray was NOT that much a catch. "Someone, you might recognize." Master finished as we turned to see Black Steel Gajeel sitting in a corner.

"What?! Him?! Are you kidding me?!" Gray yelled as Lucy gasped. I growled at the sight of him and stepped in front of Lucy.

"Gajeel!" Natsu roared as he and Gray dropped into fighting stances.

"Why'd you let him in here Gramps?!" Gray yelled as Juvia ran forward.

"Calm down! I asked him to come along with me!" Juvia pleaded as she got in between the boys and Gajeel.

"I don't mind Juvia, but he's the one responsible for destroying our guild hall." Erza stated with ice in her tone.

"Not to mention what he did to Levy, Jet, and Droy." I hissed at Gramps who remained entirely unruffled.

"Now, now, remember what I've taught you. Yesterday's enemy can be today's friend, right?" Master said in a placating tone.

"Yeah, if I'm okay with him here, you guys should be too." Levy whispered from behind a table. I noticed out the corner of my eye that Jet and Droy were glaring at Gajeel. No matter how Levy felt, the same could not be said for her teammates.

"There ain't no way! I can't work with somebody I can't trust!" Natsu yelled as he slammed his fist on Gajeel's table.

"Well, it's not like I want to be your buddy." Gajeel smirked at Natsu, pissing him off even further. "The only reason I'm here is to get work. I hate this stupid guild and everyone in it but times are tough so I had no choice but to join." Gajeel growled as he rose to face Natsu.

"If you hate it so much, why didn't you go to Lamia Scale or one of the other guilds?!" I demanded to know as I stood in front of Lucy, guarding her. Gajeel merely snorted in my direction and ignored my question.

As the two of them got into each other's faces even more, Juvia was losing it next to Gray. "Sorry but Gajeel was having a hard time finding work and I couldn't just turn my back on him. But I don't want you to think I have a crush on him or anything!" Juvia wailed from next to Gray.

"Now, I know you kids don't like it, but as the master of this guild, it's my duty to help those who've gone astray find the right path." Master stated. "Give him a shot, you might find he's a nice guy." Master stated them mumbled under his breath.

"While I may not agree with you, I will respect your decision." Erza said to master, then returned her gaze to Gajeel, "but I warn you, I'm going to keep a very close eye on him."

"And you can sure as hell bet that I'll be watching him." I growled as I reluctantly returned to a normal stance."

"Fine." Master stated as he gazed at Natsu and Gajeel, who were currently engaged in a pissing contest. I rolled my eyes at their childishness and walked over to Cana who merely grinned and slid me a tankard of beer.

"Miss me?" I grinned at her before chugging down the proffered drink. Cana merely winked and lifted her barrel in a toast as the lights went out. I raised an eyebrow and turned towards the stage as Mira appeared, holding her guitar.

"I'd like to dedicate this song to Fairy Tail's strongest team and congratulate them on their safe return." Mira said with a smile as she began to play. The crowd went wild as she began to sing. I smiled at her song, and raised a drink at her. This wasn't a bad way to return to the guild. Stella sighed in contentment as she settled on my lap.

As the song ended the crowd went wild, and I cheered right along with them. However, we ended rather abruptly when we saw who had taken the stage. Gajeel had taken a seat and was the subject of much mocking and jeering. I clasped my hands over my ears as he began to sing. It ended, thankfully, once Natsu insulted him, thus beginning a guild brawl.

I laughed as they began to fight in earnest, then cut-off when I say what Gray had done. As he had risen to yell at Natsu, he had bumped Erza's arm. I watched as her cake fell off her plate to the floor, which it was then crushed by Elfman.

I yanked Stella by tail and leapt behind the bar. It was about to get ugly, and I wanted my cat nowhere near it. "Now, stay here until I come get you, okay? Erza is about to destroy all the boys, so just stay put, okay?" I said forcefully as my cat nodded. Then I stood up only to get a chair in the face.

"THAT'S IT! WHO THREW THAT?!" I yelled as I leapt back over the bar and into the fray. I sent a hail of icicles at Natsu who retaliated with a fireball that I ducked and instead hit Gajeel. I laughed myself hoarse, until Erza tossed me into a support beam, thinking I was laughing at the destruction of her cake. I iced my arms over and nailed her with one to the jaw with a grin on my face. Master was sobbing in the corner as his brand new guild hall was broken in with a good-old fashioned brawl.

I grinned as the fight began to die down, all of us were beaten all to hell. I loved my guild and the way it was, may it never change.


	29. Chapter 29

It had been a week since we had come back from Akane, and we were just in time for the Harvest Festival and Fantasia parade. The whole town was turning out for it. Stella and I had been helping out, Stella helping to hang banners for the shopkeepers and I had been helping waitress for a few cafes, just to help bring in some jewel (and some goodwill for Fairy Tail, Natsu and Gray had almost leveled a statue two days ago, and the mayor hadn't been too happy).

I checked the clock and whipped my apron off, yelling my thanks to the store owner, who waved me off with a smile. Made sense, considering it was an ice cream parlor and just as the bakery loved Erza, the ice cream parlor loved me. I waved Stella over and we meandered towards the guild hall. There was an annual Miss Fairy Tail contest that was always fun. I crashed into a body and began to apologize before realizing who it was.

"Oh, Hey Warren! Welcome back." I said as I took in Warren's road-weary self. Warren was a telepathy mage, who was the opposite of Nab. He took all the jobs he could and was constantly gone.

"Hi Warren!" Stella chirped beside me, while fluttering above our heads.

"Thanks Aquila, Stella, glad to be back, wasn't sure I'd make it!" Warren said with a grin and I waved at him as I continued to the guild hall. I waved Stella off and she floated over to Gray and Natsu, who greeted her warmly.

I slipped backstage with the other contestants and winked at Cana, who cast me a grin. Erza slipped in beside me as I heard Max start and Cana slipped onstage.

Lucy arrived and peered through the curtain, Erza and I joining her as Cana used her card magic to transform into a bikini. "A swimsuit?! No fair!" Lucy whined.

"Now that's a clever idea, maybe I should do the same." Erza said and Lucy started as she realized that we were there.

"But Erza, as much as I love Cana, the swimsuit trick is so cliché. Better to be original." smirked at the thought of what I was planning. Top three was as good as mine.

"You guys are in this too?!" Lucy asked anxiously.

"Whenever, I hear the word contest, I get all worked up." Erza said with a grin and I laughed.

"No worries, Lucy. I'm just in it for fun. And to possibly cover some outstanding damage expenses." I said with an innocent smile as Lucy wished her rent money goodbye.

We watched as Juvia entered onstage and used her magic to also transform into a swimsuit. Lucy whined about the overuse of swimsuits. As Mirajane walked onstage, I stifled a smile. Mira had told me over the bar yesterday she planned to throw the contest, in order to have a winner who was not her. I thought it was rather noble of her to do so. I laughed as she transformed her face into Happy's and then Gajeel's. The latter made me lose it on the floor.

"And then entry number four, the Fairy Queen who needs no introduction, ERZA SCARLET!" Max announced as Erza leapt onstage with a flip. I rolled my eyes at her over exaggeration of her requip skills. _Showoff,_ I thought with a grin. Then my jaw dropped as she revealed her outfit.

"No way! GOTHIC LOLITA?!" Lucy yelped as I face-palmed. And I was just starting to like the idea of winning.

As Erza exited off towards the other side of the stage, Levy came out and used her script magic. "Contestant number six, the Icy Damsel who can melt your frozen heart, AQUILA ORION!" Max announced as I strut onto the floor amidst whistles and cat-calls.

"Hey boys!" I smiled sultrily at the crowd and generated several icicles that circled around me until I shot them upward and they exploded into glittering crystals. As the crystals fell, I spun as they wrapped around me, giving me a glittering mini-dress.

I took a bow and blew a kiss before existing offstage. I looked over to see glowing eyes and I started to bring my hands up to fight, only to turn to stone. _Evergreen,_ was the last thought I had before I was completely overtaken.


	30. Chapter 30

I couldn't move, could barely even think, I could only listen and see as Bickslow grabbed my body turned statue and dragged me into the lineup, where I could see that had gotten the rest of the girls.

I wanted to scream as I watched Laxus reveal his plan and disappear, causing a huge ruckus as the guild dispersed to save us. I couldn't even read the stats on the door from the fights as I merely sat there. I wanted to hit something, that something being Laxus. Instead, I had to watch and wait as the guild's numbers thinned, especially with Natsu and Gajeel unable to leave the building for whatever reason.

I cheered internally as Erza returned to her natural form, and as they revealed Mystogan had entered town. Now we had a chance, if only Erza could defeat Evergreen and allow the rest of us to return to our natural states.

I waited for Erza to beat her and wasn't disappointed. Within half-an hour of Erza leaving the guild- hall, I could feel Evergreen's magic and I felt the stone vanish as I returned to normal.

"FREE AT LAST!" I let out with a whoop.

"AQUILA!" Stella sobbed as she crashed into my chest, sobbing.

"Hey now, don't cry, I'm okay." I hushed Stella as she cuddled closer to me. The girls and I quickly changed into our normal attire, and we were filled in by Master on what had been occurring, including the fact that all the dragon slayers were stuck here. I cursed when I attempted to test his theory, only to be blocked by Freed's jutsu shiki. As I returned to the group, I listened to the discussion going on.

"We can't let him get away with hurting our friends." Mira stated quietly.

"Yeah, she's right! If we don't teach Laxus a lesson, then he'll never learn!" Bisca clenched her fists in anger.

"You can sure as hell bet on that, I've been wanting to smack the fool since I looked into Evergreen's eyes." I spoke angrily, as frost spread from where I sat next to Cana.

"Oh, don't worry. I'm going to give that boy a punishment he'll never forget." Master said with a twinge of anger. "He should know better. You can mess with me, but you can't mess with my guild!"

I face-palmed as Natsu said we should continue the battle. We all froze as we watched Freed's runes float down to create a giant skull.

"Can you hear me old man? And the rest of you better listen up too." Laxus's voice echoed from the projection and I grinned.

"Well, well, if it isn't the little fraidy cat. He had to turn us all to stone because he knew otherwise we'd kick his ass." I jeered at the projection.

"It looks like one of the rules has gone out the window, that's fine, I'll just add a new one. In other words, since I would hate to end the battle of Fairy Tail early, I've decided to activate the Thunder Palace." Laxus stated. I frowned, I had never heard of the Thunder Palace before.

"Are you out of your mind Laxus?!" Master yelled, his eyes wide. I looked at Master, judging from his reaction, whatever, the Thunder Palace was, it was bad news.

"You have one hour and ten minutes, if you think you can win, you'd better get moving. Unless you're going to hand the guild over to me now, _Master_." Laxus cackled as the jutsu shiki dissolved, returning to the barrier keeping Master in here.

"This game has gone on for long enough boy! I won't let you drag innocent people into this!" Master roared, then clutched at his chest and fell to the ground.

"Master, no!" Cana exclaimed as I knelt beside the old man.

"What's going on?" Lucy demanded to know.

"Is he hurt?!" Natsu panicked.

"Oh no, I'll go get his medicine!" Mira announced as she ran to the infirmary.

"Master, can you hear us?" Bisca said as she knelt next to him beside me.

"What's he mean by Thunder Palace?" Natsu asked though he spoke more softly than normal. "Come on Gramps."

"Hey, look outside you guys!" Mira yelled and pointed to a balcony door. As Natsu, Cana, and the others moved to check it out, I gently lifted Master into my arms.

"Let's get him into the infirmary." Mira stated and I nodded as I climbed the stairs, taking care not to jostle him. Mira held the door open for me and I gently laid Master on the bed, and pulled the covers up onto him. "Go check on the others, I can take it from here." Mira stated and I nodded, leaving Mira to tend to the Master.

I emerged onto the balcony to find Bisca collapsed and covered in what seemed to be burns. "What the hell happened?" I rushed over as Levy knelt beside her, trying to reawaken our gunner.

"It appears there are lightning lacrima floating around the town. They will destroy anything within them if they are activated. Bisca attempted to destroy one, but it appears to have backfired." Juvia filled me in.

"It must be body link magic." Cana spoke aloud, drawing my attention.

"Huh? What's that?" Stella asked Cana.

"It's a type of spell that's been cast on the lacrima. If you destroy one of them, then the magic energy cast in your attack will be reflected back at you." Cana explained. "In other words if we try to get rid of them, then we'll be risking our lives in the process."

"What should we do, those things could wipe out the whole town!" Levy said, hysteria began to rise in her voice.

"First of all, we need to stay calm. Then we need to divide and conquer. Laxus has to go down, then the magic his channeled into the lacrima should dissipate." I stated, drawing everyone else's attention.

"Okay, then in the meantime, I'll help the citizens evacuate." Lucy said, as she took off down the hall.

"I'll come too!" Happy stated as he took off after Lucy.

"Bickslow and Freed are still out there, be careful you two!" Cana called out as they were almost out the door.

"Watch your backs." I ordered and they paused and saluted.

"Aye sir!"

"That goes double for you two." I added as Cana and Juvia made to follow them out into the battle.

"Yes ma'am." Cana said with a grin as she and Juvia exited the balcony.

Natsu growled and leapt over the balcony, trying to force his way through the jutsu shiki.

"Stop! Just calm down." Levy pleaded with Natsu as I hefted Bisca into my arms.

"I can't calm down!" Natsu hissed as he proceeded to continue punching the barrier.

"We're never going to get out of here that way!" Levy yelled as Natsu ignored her. "It's an enchantment!" Levy said with a degree of smugness.

"Yeah thanks, we already knew that." Gajeel said gruffly, so I kicked him in the knees, since my arms were full with Bisca. "Ow, what the hell was that for?!"

"Mind your tongue, and be nice to her!" I hissed at him and he muttered to himself.

"Well, since it's a kind of script magic, I think I might be able to break the spell." Levy finished, looking pleased with her theory.

"Oh yeah?" Gajeel said, his tone betraying his interest.

"Is that possible, Levy?" I asked with a growing smile. If we could get out of here, order would be restored quickly.

"Can you do that? Really?!" Natsu yelled with urgency.

"Of course! And when I do you guys will be free to go track down Laxus!"

I nodded and left Levy to her work with Gajeel oddly attentive to her activities. I returned to the infirmary, startling Mira, who quickly turned down the sheets as I lay Bisca on the bed. Mira tucked Bisca in as I turned on my heel to go check on Levy's progress. I entered the main hall to find her muttering to Gajeel, who looked utterly bewildered, and Natsu was pressed up against the barrier, champing at the bit for a fight.

Mira emerged from the stairs a determined look on her face. "I'm going to look for Elfman." She declared and I turned to her.

"Are you sure about this Mira? If you run into Freed or Bickslow, I don't trust them not to attack you despite your lack of magic." I pressed her on the issue, I didn't want her to get hurt.

"I need to check on him. You aren't changing my mind." Mira stated firmly, her resolve clear.

I nodded, "Be careful." Mira nodded and left the guild hall, entering the Battle of Fairy Tail.

I settled into a seat, and pressed my hands together. It was only a matter of time before we were loose. _And when that happens, Laxus, I'm coming for you!_


	31. Chapter 31

"I've got it!" Levy's cry echoed throughout the guildhall and I bolted to my feet. I bounced lightly on my toes as she rewrote Freed's enchantment. "Okay it's done, but listen up you three! You can't get caught up in the battles, so split up and find Laxus, use your noses!" Levy ordered and I saluted her with a grin.  
"Aye aye Captain!" I grinned and shot out the door, followed closely by Natsu and Gajeel, who quickly veered off from me and shot down opposing side alleys. Stella fluttered out behind me and I gestured for her to come closer. "Stella stay up in the sky, I don't want you to get caught up in the fighting. But if you hear a whistle, come on down."

"Okay! But… be careful, Aquila." Stella whispered as she hugged my arm and I stroked her head. The she took off into the sky, so high I could barely see her. Then I turned and began to race down the street neither Natsu nor Gajeel had taken.

I smelt Erza's scent lingering in the streets and turned around, determined to follow it, when I heard an explosion. "That's coming from Kardia Cathedral!" I altered course, running straight for the Cathedral, the only one left who could have an explosion of that magnitude was Laxus. As I turned, I could see Natsu and Erza racing for the entrance as well.

"Nice to see you Erza." I grinned as we all stood in the entrance watching Laxus and Mystogan duke it out.

"I'm glad to see you both made it out of the guild hall." Erza said with a sigh of relief.

"Who the heck is that guy?" Natsu asked, pointing at Mystogan.

"That's Mystogan." Erza answered as we watched. I frowned as Mystogan paused and stared at Erza, then covered his face.

"You're wide open!" Laxus stated with a grin then fired a bolt of lightning at him, destroying his head covering and mask. My eyes widened as the smoke cleared, revealing…

"Jellal?!" Erza whispered, her eyes wide with shock.

"What the-?!" Natsu whispered. I said nothing, merely sliding in front of Erza. How the hell had Jellal survived the Etherion blast without us discovering him?

"But how? You're still alive?" Erza murmured, her eyes beginning to fill with tears.

"Oh, so you know this guy." Laxus said with a wicked grin.

"I don't get it, so Mystogan, is really Jellal?" Natsu asked, confused as the rest of us.

"Erza, please forgive me. I was afraid you'd see this." Mystogan whispered, even sounding like Jellal. "I'm not your friend Jellal. I do know of him, but I'm not him." Mystogan looked at Erza, then myself, then Natsu, then whispered, "I'm sorry, I must be going." He vanished into smoke.

"Hey, wait up!" Natsu called out as the smoke dissipated, revealing Mystogan was gone. "Alright man, you against me, I'm going to take care of this clown, that okay with the two of you?" Natsu demanded as he turned to Erza and I. I nodded but turned to see Erza trembling beyond belief.

"Erza, snap out of it, we can talk about this later, right now we have to-" I screamed along with Erza as Laxus blasted us both with a volley of lightning.

"Those're quite some expressions, you're making there girls." Laxus smirked as Erza and I crashed to the floor.

"Bastard." I growled as I struggled to stand and watched Natsu try to fight Laxus. "Come on Erza, we need to help him. Laxus is the problem!"

"You're right." Erza agreed as she requipped into her black wing armor. We both charged at Laxus, Erza swinging her blade at his left arm, while I threw an ice-coated punch at his right.

"Alright Laxus, tell me now, what've you put in the sky?!" Erza demanded as we broke apart for the moment.

"What, haven't you heard? It's my thunder palace." Laxus grinned.

"You're despicable. To think you'd attack your own town!" Erza yelled.

"It doesn't matter Erza, because we'll take him out before he has a chance to use it!" I yelled as I leapt at Laxus again, throwing a punch that connected with one of his own, as Erza swung a kick at him. He caught both and let out an evil laugh.

"Natsu! Go hurry and destroy them!" Erza commanded and I interrupted her.

"He can't, Erza! Body link magic, Bisca was fried when she tried."

"You fiend! You're using body link magic to protect them?!" Erza yelled as Laxus grinned, his eyes containing a gleam of madness.

"Yeah I did, and they're going to stay there until I tell them to blow." Laxus said. "It's a shame you won't be around to see it!"

"You coward!" Erza screamed, and Laxus let out a jolt of lightning into us as he released us.

"Requip!" Erza and I flipped backwards and once the smoke cleared it revealed our trump card. Erza had Lightning Empress armor, and I had coated my body in ice, which turned me into a very poor conductor.

"Lightning Empress armor and a coating of ice? Nice try but that won't protect you from my attack!" Laxus yelled as he sent a bolt of lightning towards us. Erza and I leapt into the air, dodging the stroke completely.

"Now that we're properly equipped, it's a fair fight!" I yelled as I sent jagged icicles hurtling towards him, in a combination with Erza's lightning.

"Well, then let's see if you can handle this!" Laxus fired off several bolts of lightning, which Erza repelled with a shield form her armor, and I summoned an icicle large enough to hide behind, which absorbed the hit for me.

"When wizards clash, there are multiple factors that determine the outcome. Type of magic, experience, level of magical energy, and technique." Erza declared as she slipped into a battle stance more suited to her spear.

"So?" Laxus declared haughtily, as he stood casually, as though he were taunting us.

"There's one more, that you seem to have forgotten Laxus. Your spirit!" I cried out, narrowing my eyes at him. "Master taught you that, as he did the rest of us, but you seem to have forgotten that. So!" I slammed my fists together, sending ice chips flying off of my hands. "It looks like I'll have to remind you."

"Maybe. But I also know that power trumps everything else." Laxus spit out.

"You couldn't be more wrong." Erza brandished her spear in Laxus's direction.

"Would you just leave it alone already?! I told you that I was going to be the one to fight him!" Natsu yelled from behind us. We paused in our battle and turned to face Natsu, who stared us down, his gaze filled with determination. Erza smiled and I threw my arms up in surrender.

"Then I'll have to put my faith in you." Erza said with a smile as she began to run form the building.

"What the hell! If Pyro here wants a crack at him, far be it from me to stop him." I grinned and followed Erza out.

"Hey! Where you guys going?!" Natsu yelled and I turned back with a grin. "Hold on, you're not going to try to do something crazy like take that thing down are you?" Natsu said with concern.

"I'd like to see them try. Attacking just one of those lacrimas can be deadly. And who knows how many of them are floating above the town right now." Laxus cackled. "And besides, you're out of time!" I spun around and shot an icicle in his direction, narrowly missing his head, though he didn't flinch.

"Well, then I suppose it's to your benefit, since we're stronger than you anyways." I said sweetly as Laxus narrowed his eyes.

"Then we'll simply destroy them all at once." Erza stated coldly, not bothering to face Laxus as she said it.

"Is that so? You both must have some kind of major death wish then." Laxus grinned as I glared at him.

"No buddy, we're just that good." I stated as I descended down the steps and whistled.

As Stella swooped down from the sky, Erza called out to Natsu, "We're leaving him in your hands so don't let us down!" Erza and I raced down the street, with Stella following close behind.

"I'm putting my faith in you two, you hear?!" Natsu yelled over the enraged Laxus. Erza merely paused and smiled at him, then we continued running down the street. "Whether you guys destroy those things or not, you'd better make it back alive!"

I scoffed at Natsu and then grinned at Erza, "Hah! Can you believe him? It's like he doesn't know us at all!"

As we skidded to a stop, Erza requipped into her Heaven's wheel armor. "Alright then, you take the ones to the north, I'll handle the ones to the south!" I commanded Erza who nodded in agreement. "Let's go Stella!" I stated, and she grabbed the back of my vest and began to soar until we were level with the lacrimas. _Alright Fairy Tail, we've been through a huge shit storm, but we're still us, so let Erza and I succeed here, in order to protect everyone!_

I exhaled and then coated my body over with ice and yanked my hair out of its braid. I could feel Erza summoning her swords and so I snapped all off my hair off, leaving me with clumps of needles that I could shoot. I held them in the air and then began to summon icicles, large, thick ones and I panted as I could the strain on having to summon them all then hold them in the air. "Damnit!" I swore in between gasps.

"What's wrong Aquila?" Stella asked in concern as she beat her wings hard to keep us in the air for such an extended period of time.

"It's not… enough." I panted out as I fought to keep summoning them as the lacrimas began to glow. I grit my teeth and though it felt like I was yanking out my internal organs, I kept summoning them. I had to keep on going. "Stella… when I fire them off… you have to drop me…"

"WHAT! No way!" Stella began to protest vociferously.

"The body link… will shock me, and since… it's lightning… It'll hit you too… So drop me, and then catch me." I ordered her in between gasps.

"No! What if I can't catch you?" She whimpered and I paused in my efforts to ruffle her fur.

"I have… complete... faith… in you." I gave her a smile and she nodded with fear in her eyes. "You… can… do it."

 _Hey Fairy Tailers, can you hear me?_ the thought echoed through my mind, but it wasn't from me. "Warren?!" I stated in shock. I thought Erza, Natsu, Gajeel, and I were some of the last ones standing. _Things aren't looking so good for us, check out what's floating in the sky. We're going to have to pull together so get off your butts and lend us a hand! If any of you are still fighting, give it a rest for a second. Now listen carefully, those lacrima up there are part of a spell called the thunder palace._ As Warren gave his explanation, I grinned then paused.

 _Wait a minute, how did you find out about the thunder palace Warren?_ I heard Erza's voice echo through my mind.

 _I've never been happier to hear your voice._ Gray's voice followed Erza's and I grinned.

 _Hey there Ice princess, glad to see your being useful._ I imparted my thoughts into the telepathy currently including us all, and laughed when I picked up on Gray's unspoken annoyance.

 _Always a pleasure Aquila,_ Gray imparted sarcastically and I let out a mental laugh. _I was worried about the both of you,_ He added and I smiled softly. He was such a big softie when he wanted to be.

 _I see so, you're the one who told him,_ Erza voice echoed once again. As the guild realized that the girls were freed, a mental cheer echoed through everyone. Then it devolved into bickering and squabbling. I narrowed my eyes and prepared to unleash a mental bass-whooping on them all, but I was beaten to the punch.

 _WOULD YOU IDIOTS QUIT YELLING AT EACH OTHER!_ Gray's voice blasted through our minds, only for the bickering to return at double the force. As they argued back and forth, I sighed and put my head in my hands. They chose now to act like toddlers?

 _Shut up!_ A voice echoed, causing everyone else to go quiet. Lucy's voice echoed as she continued, _we shouldn't be wasting our time arguing! The citizens of Magnolia are in danger and we're the only ones who can help them. So we're going to have to work together! Look, I know things have been rough with all of fighting against each other, but we can do anything if we pull together. That what you guys have taught me. I know that I'm still fairly new to Fairy Tail, but I promise you, I love being a part of this guild, just as much as the rest of you. I always dreamed of joining Fairy Tail someday, it's what I wanted more than anything in this world. Now that I've joined it… it means everything to me. If you feel the same way, let's work as a guild and SAVE OUR TOWN!_

I grinned at Lucy's proclamation and felt the swell of emotion echo from everyone. _But if none of you are up to the challenge, then I'll do this alone! I'll destroy those things myself!_

 _Well said Lucy. Now are we going to get our shit together, Fairy Tail?!_ My thoughts were answered with a roar of encouragement, all aimed at Lucy.

As the guild began to gently tease and rib at one another I rolled my eyes. _Hello everyone, just a reminder but giant balls of death above our heads, save the soft fuzzies for later!_

With that reminder the noise faded into silence, as orders were issued. _I'll take the two hundred to the north!_ Erza proclaimed.

 _I've got the two hundred to the west accounted for!_ I thought as I shifted my ice west instead of south. _Everyone else, have at the rest!_

 _We can do this!_ Erza gave some words of encouragement and with that everyone attacked.

"HRAH!" I threw my ice with all the force I could muster at the lacrima create explosions and winds that buffeted us in the air. I watched as the rest of the lacrima went up in smoke.

"DROP ME!" I ordered Stella who let go with only a touch of hesitation. I screamed as I fell, and was shocked by hundreds of volts of lightning. I fell limp through the air once it was over, only to feel Stella's paws grasp the back of my vest and pull with all her might.

My descent slowed, and Stella beat her wings until we were hovering over one of Magnolia's towers, where I could see Gray and Warren laying. Stella gently set me down next to Gray, who grinned at me, evoking a smile in return. We had done it.

Erza's voiced echoed once again, checking on everyone and gently scolding us for our recklessness. I let out a small laugh, as Gray asked the same of us.

I laughed once again, and I laid fully on the ground, finally sinking into blissful unconsciousness.


	32. Chapter 32

I was roused back to consciousness by Stella shaking my arm, I eased myself up only to discover I was laying on an infirmary bed, with Gray sitting on the stool next to me.

"This is becoming a bad habit of yours. Making me carry you when you're unconscious." Gray quipped but I could see the worry in his eyes.

"What can I say? I just love the attention." I replied in response, to which he rolled his eyes.

"Come on, Erza's got an announcement regarding the master. We'd better get downstairs. DO I need to carry you again?" Gray asked with humor. I rolled my eyes and stood up with only a wince for my troubles.

"Come on stripper." Was my only response as we exited the infirmary, joining the rest of guild in the main hall. I slid onto a seat next to Lucy with Gray following behind me. Stella slammed into my chest and I laughed as she cuddled into me. "Geez Stella, I was only electrocuted." I teased and she pouted at me.

"Aquila, that's not funny!" She whined as she finally released me and sat on the table in front of me.

"Alright, alright, you're attention please." Erza called from the front of the room. "I'm pleased to announce that thanks to Porlyusica's help, the Master's going to pull through just fine. So don't worry, he'll be back to work in no time." The guild let out a resounding cheer at the announcement.

"Thank goodness. I got to admit, I was getting a little worried." Lucy admitted.

"Aw, it'll take more than that to make Gramps kick the bucket." Gray brushed it off with a smile.

"Popsicle is right. Master's tougher than all of us put together." I added with a grin.

"Well he isn't as young as he used to be, so any stress on his heart could significantly affect his health, so let's be on our best behavior." Erza commanded, and the guild once again responded enthusiastically.

"I don't know if it's such a good idea to do the Fantasia parade after everything that's happened." Lucy voiced her concerns.

"But the Master wants us to do it. Besides, it's the perfect way to cheer everyone up after that mess." Mira's voice stated as she and Elfman walked over to join us.

"Mira's right. Besides, Fantasia is too much fun to give up." I grinned then turned to Gray. "We're still on for our float right?"

Gray snorted then waved dismissively, "Please, I've got it all handled." I stared him down, and he began to sweat. I knew he hadn't done any of his prep work yet. However, my interrogation was interrupted when Juvia commented on her excitement.

"Well, you're going to be in it with us little lady!" Cana winked at Juvia as she passed me a mug full of beer, which I took with a grin. Juvia looked stunned, especially when Macao and Wakaba chimed in, stating that wasn't she a member of the guild too. I laughed as Juvia pouted that she didn't think she was allowed to participate.

"Does that mean I'm in it too?" Lucy asked shyly and I flung an arm around her.

"But of course, we need all the help we can get, especially with Dumb and Dumber over there out of commission." I grinned as my comment set off their wrath, but considering Natsu and Gajeel could barely move, I was safe from their wrath.

I meandered over to Erza, and slung my arm around her shoulders. "It's good to see everyone getting along." She commented, unsurprised by my presence.

"Naturally. After all, we're a good bunch, we just need some sense beaten into us every now and then." I laughed as Natsu and Gajeel continued to argue.

The guild went silent as Laxus walked into the hall. As the guild began to murmur, Laxus moved forward, seemingly unaffected. "Where's the old man?" Was his only comment. The guild burst into angry shouts and chaos at his question.

"Shut your traps!" I yelled, and then gestured for Erza to speak.

"The Master's in the infirmary ." Was all that she said and murmurs broke out once again. Laxus strode past us and I narrowed my eyes at him.

Laxus glanced at me, then continued walking, only to be halted by Natsu mumbling angrily as he slid in front of him, blocking his path. He let out an angry shout, his voice still unintelligible however.

"Translation please?" Lucy asked Gajeel, who had hobbled over to join us.

"He said next time it won't be two against one, it'll just be him and Laxus, and he won't lose." Gajeel translated and I furrowed my brow.

"I was under the impression you two had one." I stated with a raised eyebrow.

"Nah, it was more like a draw. And if that guy had been around during Phantom, I would be six feet under." Gajeel added and I took in Laxus with a new eye. What would've happened, if Erza and I had stayed?

Laxus sized up Natsu for a moment then walked passed him. At the end before entering the infirmary, he raised a hand in acknowledgment, stunning us all into silence.

As he entered, Erza sighed, "Alright, show's over guys, let's get ready for the Fantasia Parade!" With Erza's admonition, we all cheered and went about our business.

"See you later everyone, Popsicle and I have a float to make." I called out as I raised a hand in farewell. Stella floated over and landed on my head.

"Are we going to go make the float?!" Stella squealed with excitement. Fantasia was her favorite time of the year. I picked her up and tossed her in the air a couple of times, then pulled her into a hug.

"Naturally, my little snow fairy!" I giggled and set her back on my head as I continued to the back of the guild, where Gray was waiting with… Juvia?

"Hey Popsicle, Juvia. What's this here?" I asked with a smile.

"She didn't have any other float to join. I thought you maybe would have an idea." Gray said awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck while avoiding eye contact.

"I- I don't mean to intrude, I can always-" Juvia began but I interrupted her.

"Nonsense, the more the merrier, and I'm sure Magnolia would be happy to see a new face on our float!" I grinned and threw an arm around her. "Now gather close everyone and allow me to tell you of a fabulous idea I just had."

I whispered my idea into our little huddle and then we got to work. Juvia claimed she could sew and was set on costumes. Stella was helping her while Gray and I constructed our float.

"This is the craziest idea you've ever had." He smirked as we paused for a brief break. The castle was almost done, now all that was left was the dragon.

Fireworks exploded in the skies as the time for the Fantasia parade approached. Cana, Macao and Wakaba's float entered first, with fire and smoke shapes, and Cana's cards circling them all surrounded by different shapes and auras.

Following them came, the other boys, in a forest like float that used Droy's plant magic. Following them was Lucy, Bisca, who had recovered rather quickly from the lightning shock, and Levy, performing a complicated dance with flags on a float covered with jewels.

Next was Mira and Elfman, showcasing a trapped princess guarded by a beast. I almost ripped the seams out of my dress due to my laughing when Mira transformed into a giant lizard, and nearly crushed Elfman.

Finally it was our turn. As we rolled down the road, an icy castle was present, with Juvia on a balcony, who extended water geysers that formed beautiful streams and jets. Gray and I were on the ground and I was melded into a giant ice dragon he had created. I roared once and then Gray used his ice make magic causing the dragon to shatter, leaving me in a princess gown kneeling next to him, as the crystals from the dragon floated upward and froze into the word Fairy Tail, resting upon an bridge of water Juvia had created. Gray took my hand and we began to fire off tiny ice crystals into the air, with their shattering and glitter punctuated by Juvia's redirection of the water jets.

"This was the craziest idea you've ever had.' Gray murmured as we shot off another round.

"I think you mean my best." I countered but there was no bite in it. I smiled at Gray and he returned it as we maneuvered around each other, almost dancing together. "Oh, it's time." I whispered to Gray who nodded. The movement came from the back of the parade and moved to the front.

We all raised our right hands with our index finger and thumb extended. _So you were an ass. We've all been there, and we'll all be looking out for you in the future,_ I thought as we all raised our hands.

 **A/N: Alright so I posted this arc while hiding under a rock, fearing my fans were going to come and murder for me for not updating. But hopefully you guys will forgive my chronic lateness and accept this arc as appeasement. Also kudos to those of you who favorited and reviewed it really makes my day/ Please leave a review and tell me what you guys think! Thanks so much!**


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